all those tremulous stars still glitter
by katanafleet
Summary: Almost every morning she woke up with tears on her face, the echo of Lucifer's goodbye ringing in her ears. Every night, she saw him fly away, and there was nothing she could do except watch him disappear into darkness. He was gone, and he wasn't coming back. Unless Hell froze over. [in short - chloe decker was not expecting this. incredibly au after 4x10.]
1. Chapter 1

Every mention in literature, every painting, and every threat spoken on the street said that Hell was hot. A burning, fiery inferno of hellfire and pain. Where else would the word "hellfire" have come from, after all, if not from the fires of Hell?

But all of that was wrong. Hell was cold. He'd forgotten, the long years in sunny Los Angeles taking away the sensation of the cold, biting and furious and unforgiving.

Los Angeles, the City of Angels. There he'd declared himself no longer an angel, found his wings again, lost them, and grown to accept them. In Los Angeles, he could be whatever he wanted. He could allow himself to forget that he was blamed for humanity's sins.

He may have been an angel, but he never felt like it, down in Hell.

He'd left _his _angel behind in the City of Angels. His savior, his blessing, his miracle.

That was why Hell was so cold, the throne he sat upon far stranger than familiar, the screams below him grating and painful rather than satisfyingly just, the freezing air that hung like a weight on his shoulders aching rather than refreshing.

He had flown away from _her_.

* * *

Chloe was pretty sure it had almost worked. Standing there, tears streaming down her face, finally, _finally _telling Lucifer that she loved him. She thought he almost decided not to go back to Hell. But then he smiled (grinned, even), called her his first love (only? That was either flattering or painful, because he had so much love and yet she was the first one he could let himself love), kissed her, and let his beautiful wings take him back to his kingdom.

Of course, she was lying to herself. When she thought back, she knew that he'd decided in the Mayan, demons banished and fight finished, to return to Hell. She'd seen the determination in his face, the lone tear in his eye. But it made her almost feel better, maybe vindicated, knowing that if she'd just gotten a better hold on his hand, grasped his jacket into wrinkles, maybe he wouldn't have taken that step away.

She stood there for a long time, still crying, before she could make herself step away from the balcony. Going back through his penthouse was torture, every step a horrible reminder that _he wasn't there._ He was gone, and he wasn't coming back. Unless Hell froze over. She stifled back some sort of hysterical giggle.

Chloe turned around, took a few steps, and froze when she saw his bed. Still unmade. Still a mess of pillows and sheets and recent memories. The horrifying wings and burned skin and sculpted tendon melting away before her into the face she knew. Jumping into his arms before either of them could do anything aside from laugh in relief, slamming her mouth into his before he could say a word. Falling to the bed. His body wrapped around hers. His face pressed to hers. A different sort of feeling, fueled by her relief and his thankfulness. Laughs and kisses and love even though they wouldn't admit it for another twenty-four hours—she ran past the bed, stumbled down the few stairs, and looked at the rest of the room.

As she stepped through and around the mess that was his living room area, she saw a button-down that he'd flung carelessly on the couch, probably a few days before the mess that was this week. Before she could think or talk herself out of it, she'd grabbed the shirt, pressed it to her face, inhaled the smell that was Lucifer's cologne and a bit of fire and something else that was just _him_, and stepped into the elevator.

She almost made the calls on the silent drive home. But something stopped her, probably the disconcerting voice of her old captain reminding her to tell family members in person. When someone died, whether in a shoot-out or in the hospital afterwards, she had to tell the family in person. _So and so loved one has passed away. I'm sorry for your loss. Let me know if you need any assistance in anything or have any more information relating to the incident. _This probably went along the same lines: when their brother and friend went back to Hell without warning, she had to tell Amenadiel and Maze and Linda in person.

So she went home. She stepped through her doorway, Lucifer's shirt still clutched in her hand, wrapped around her arm, pulled into her chest. She almost called for Trixie before remembering that she was with Dan (thankfully; Trixie was the one she couldn't have hidden from and aside from Maze the one she was most afraid to tell) for the weekend.

Chloe sat down on the couch, blessedly and frighteningly alone. She looked down at the shirt in her lap and watched the tear stains grow. Her mind raced. She couldn't tell if the shirt was silk or not; if it was silk, it was going to stain. It probably wasn't silk. Lucifer was gone. She had to tell Trixie. Why couldn't he have waited a day or two and told everyone first? Said he was going back to England or something? There, that was a good cover story. Would work for most everyone—

She woke up on the couch, morning light shining gleefully in her eyes. "Mommy?" a voice asked.

"Chloe, are you okay?" another voice asked, this one slightly more amused.

Trixie and Dan. She sat up, still clutching the shirt, her back listing off every reason she should have gone to actual bed instead of crying herself to sleep on the couch. "I'm good, it's okay," she blurted back out. "Why are you two here instead of school?"

"It's Saturday, Mommy," Trixie said, sitting down next to her on the couch. "But I forgot my toothbrush here."

Dan sat down on the chair across from them, resting his elbows on his knees. "We found that I have no suitable toothbrushes in my apartment, so we came back here with breakfast." She felt his eyes on her face, finding the tear stains and red-rimmed eyes. Finally his gaze landed on the (distinctly Lucifer's) shirt, and she saw him conclude that her business was her business. Wow. Dan had really grown up recently.

Trixie flopped down across her legs. "We brought doughnuts. Daddy said that we couldn't continue the cop stereotype, but I said that doughnuts were the best and he eventually agreed." Dan and Trixie glanced at each other and nodded before returning their nearly identical eyes to her face.

Chloe finally laughed, just for a second. And she managed to pretend throughout breakfast, keeping up appearances of being okay. Dan had promised Trixie a trip to the movies and probably the ice cream shop, and so an hour later she was alone again.

"Okay, Decker," she mumbled as she brushed her teeth. The shirt was flung onto her bed as if its owner was coming home in a few hours, but she ignored that, because not ignoring it would mean tears, the emotion that Trixie had managed to calm without realizing it. She glared at her reflection. "Pull it together."

* * *

Linda, on the other hand, could not hold it together.

"He just _left_? Without saying _goodbye_? He just—" Chloe did not envy Amenadiel his sudden armful of weeping therapist. She'd left home immediately after Dan and Trix did, to go ahead and get this over with. The farewell tour of Lucifer Morningstar, fallen angel and Devil, hosted by Chloe Decker, the only woman he ever loved. She was not excited, and her four listeners were just as upset.

"I knew he was going to have to go back," Maze snarled, pacing the room. "If he hadn't been such a _dick_ he could have at least said goodbye."

Amenadiel looked mostly unaffected despite the fussing that Charlie was now doing (there was only so much the baby could handle, and being held by a virtual stranger while one's mother was sobbing was not among that capability) and the knives that had casually emerged from Maze's jacket. "Did he say anything before he left?"

Chloe bounced the baby and almost miraculously he calmed down and stared up at her, confusion at her identity painted across his face. "He just said that we'd just plugged a hole in a leaky… something, and that the demons need a king. And then he left. His wings are back to normal though." Maze grunted at that.

Linda pulled herself out of Amenadiel's light grasp and sniffed. "They're white and gorgeous again? I wouldn't have expected that after what you said when you were getting" _hiccup _"Charlie back." She looked longingly at Chloe, and Chloe quickly decided that the longing was for Charlie rather than for herself, although a hug wouldn't have been completely unwelcome, so she took the baby back to his mom. Linda smiled at her baby, scooting back into the couch cushions.

She thought about mentioning his revelations on the prophecy. It did mean hell coming to earth, demons killing mankind and taking over, and she—not Eve—was his first love. But none of these three had heard all that much about the prophecy anyway; none of them had obsessed to the point of trying to kill the guy or Devil they loved by order of an insane Vatican priest or actually turned into a demon thing on accident over it (to say they'd had problems the past few months would be an understatement).

That was hers. Those last minutes with him were _hers_. Maze stomped up and pulled her into a choking hug (not the kind of hug she would have requested) before she even realized she was crying again. If she hadn't been shaking so hard, she would have known for sure whether the tear that landed on her neck was Maze's or hers. As it was, she had no idea.

"Do you want me to fly you back down?" Amenadiel asked. "If you want to return to Hell, that is."

Maze stiffened in her arms and turned them both to face the angel. "Lucifer is not all I have, Amenadiel. I need to protect Trixie and Charlie, on top of normal life. I do have a life here now, after all."

Amenadiel nodded as Linda beamed. Maze had thankfully loosened the death-hug to death-glare at Amenadiel, and Chloe hugged her again. It hadn't occurred to her until Maze's words that Trixie's best protector—even Dan would probably agree—was gone, and thankfully she was about out of tears and couldn't cry anymore because it had been a terrible year and she had cried enough for a lifetime.

Linda looked up at Chloe and stood, offering Charlie again in what she clearly thought was the utmost generosity. They had apparently decided to change the subject completely. Maze disappeared as she and Linda and Amenadiel discussed the baby. Apparently he'd put on a bit over half a pound in his short life. Linda had taken him to the pediatrician after the whole Mayan incident—god, that was just yesterday—and the doctor had looked at her strangely but said he was fine. Perfectly fine. Like fine to the degree of _why have you brought him so soon he's like a week old_?

"I did that with Trixie a few times," Chloe remembered. "Paranoid mothers, I guess."

Linda laughed. "Amenadiel was the one who insisted I take him to the doctor! For once, he was more paranoid than I am. I didn't let him go with me because I'm pretty sure he would have killed the doctor if he'd made a different face than a comforting smile." Amenadiel almost managed a smile, but Chloe saw him almost shudder, which was a weird emotion on an angel.

"What are you telling Trixie?" Maze asked abruptly, returning to the conversation as quickly as she'd left it.

"About what?" Chloe asked.

Maze rolled her eyes. "About where babies come from." Chloe almost choked. They'd had that talk years ago, and it had gone just as unfortunately as she'd expected; Trixie was, after all, the queen of questions and little-to-no shyness. "_Lucifer_, duh."

"Oh. Right. I was going to tell her and Dan and everyone else that he had to go back to England really suddenly." Chloe felt her throat close up and she stared back down at Charlie, whose eyes bored into her soul in the way only babies can.

Amenadiel nodded. "That would be best. He didn't manage to tell anyone else the truth, did he?"

"He was always telling the truth," she sighed, Maze nodding. "But no, no one else aside from us knows. Except maybe a few criminals, come to think of it. But they don't need to know that he's returned to Hell, and it's not like anyone believes them anyway. Most of them are in jail getting regular psych evals."

They sat there in silence, the four of them who knew the truth. Not only were Heaven and Hell real: one of them was an angel, one a demon, one the mother of a half-angel baby, and the last was a human in love with the Devil.

Chloe excused herself when Charlie started wailing, because her nerves were frayed enough, and Maze's expression of going into battle was enough to persuade her to not watch the _is the baby hungry or sleepy or wet or just angry_ discussion.

Maze followed her outside and they stood on the porch for a minute. "I'm moving back in with you and Trixie." Chloe nodded and Maze raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you're not going to argue? Say I'm bad for Trixie or anything?"

"You were right, when you said you need to protect Trixie and Charlie. Charlie has Amenadiel, but Trixie needs you. If anything happens, I don't think that Dan and I are going to be enough." That hurt like hell to admit, but Chloe knew it was true. "And I think I'm going to need someone to stop me from crying all the damn time."

Maze sniffed. Without warning she pulled Chloe into a hug. She pulled away as abruptly as she'd hugged. "I'll move in tomorrow. You have my old key on you?"

Chloe pulled the spare key off her key ring. "Nice of you to actually ask for a key?"

"Well, if the Devil's gone and not watching, I might as well be human. So that means unlocking the door instead of breaking in, even though that's so much more fun." They exchanged grins, and Chloe stepped toward her car.

She'd barely sat down and turned the key in the ignition before she got a text from Linda. She laughed as she read "Lucifer Survival Group" and _We should have game nights! Or maybe movie nights! Something to keep us together!_

Amenadiel and Maze both responded immediately with emojis that perfectly expressed their respective gentleness (two hearts) and sheer evil (rolled eyes and a knife). As she drove away, Chloe decided to not bring Trixie to these movie nights.

* * *

"Mommy?" Trixie called from her bedroom an hour after Dan dropped her off again. Despite her better intentions, Chloe had found herself scrolling through her list of solved cases and thinking about Lucifer's antics on each one. It had not been a good idea, and Chloe was almost crying again.

"Well, Decker, time to pull this Band-Aid off," she muttered as she stood up and leaned into Trixie's doorway. "What is it, Trix?" Trixie was sitting at her desk, holding a blue crayon over what Chloe was pretty sure was math homework, but already staring at her instead of looking at the homework she was about to turn into a coloring page.

Naturally, Trixie, the dear sweet angel that she was, said the one thing Chloe wished she wouldn't. "I miss Lucifer. When can he come over?"

Chloe felt the question like an arrow to the heart. She stepped into Trixie's room and sat on the bed, taking a deep and empowering breath. "Lucifer can't come over for a while, monkey. He's had to go back to England and he can't come back for a really long time."

Trixie stared at her, her eyes wide. "He didn't say goodbye?"

"It was a really sudden trip," she said weakly.

"Can I FaceTime him?"

Chloe grasped at straws. "He doesn't have a phone right now and might not get one for a while." Great. It sounded like England had called him back for jail.

Trixie's bottom lip quivered. "Why couldn't he wait to say goodbye?"

Chloe held her arms open and Trixie fell into her, hugging her back almost as tightly as Maze. And in that moment, she could have killed Lucifer for this, for her daughter's tears which were now soaking her shoulder, for leaving so quickly that he couldn't even say goodbye to Trixie, one of the very few people he actually loved. Her next words came pouring out before she could think. "He loves you, he said to tell you before he left. He didn't want to go, Trixie, and he loves you so much." That was the tiniest of lies she was positive he would forgive, even if he would probably never admit it. He had admitted that he'd do anything for her, and "anything" for Lucifer ranged from _give a dollar to_ and _return to Hell_.

"If he'd loved us he would have stayed," Trixie muttered.

"I think that's one reason he had to go, Trixie. Because he loves us." She wanted to say that she begged him not to go, but that seemed like a bit much.

She held Trixie until she was cried out, and Chloe felt like her heart had gone through a wringer and her shirt needed to. She couldn't decide for a minute whether she was glad or upset that Dan hadn't stayed for dinner, but honestly she was glad in the end that he'd get to hear with the rest of the department on Monday.

He'd probably handle it better without knowing how sad Lucifer's departure had made Trixie. The man had enough reasons, both real and semi-imagined, to hate Lucifer, and Chloe didn't really want to add this one.

She ordered pizza for dinner, because she didn't want to cook. She rarely wanted to cook, but especially not now. Now, she just felt like sitting on the couch with her baby girl (who was probably going to be taller than her someday, with how fast she was growing lately) and vegging out on pizza. She did manage to make a salad to go along with the pizza when she realized that Trixie had had nothing but junk food all day, but it was the only productive thing she managed for the rest of the day.

Considering Trixie wanted to just lie on the couch and chat about the movie she and Dan saw earlier and a bit about Lucifer (but not too much) and squeal incessantly when Chloe told her that Maze was moving back in, she didn't have to do a lot for the rest of the night. The Maze news led to the happiest Trixie that Chloe had seen in weeks, so that was one good thing out of the night.

"I miss Lucifer. Is he ever gonna come back?" Trixie asked quietly, her stuffed animals waiting eagerly for an answer next to her.

She tucked the edges of the blanket around Trixie and brushed her hair out of her eyes. "I'm not sure, monkey. I know he would come back in a moment if he could."

She stared at the front door for a few minutes before going to bed. He wasn't coming back, though. He'd done his duty and returned to Hell to rule his demons, so she was going to do her duty and actually go to work in the morning.

* * *

_The morning_ was Sunday. Chloe stared up at the ceiling and sighed. One day down. Many more to go. Forever to go.

She heard laughing from the living room, so she decided to get up and make sure that Trixie hadn't made friends with some home invader. It wouldn't have been too unexpected, honestly, and with the amount that Trixie talked it would be a terrible idea to kidnap her. All the same, it was best to check.

"You're finally up, Decker! I brought boxes." Chloe stumbled toward Maze's car with a scant grin, wondering whether she could be qualified as a home invader if she was known and mostly expected.

"Trixie, stop, stop, give me that," she called when she saw Trixie grabbing a box that was easily half her size out of the car.

"I've got it, Mommy!"

"I'm sure you do, but I'm gonna get it this time." Thankfully, the box wasn't quite as heavy as it looked, but she was pretty sure that was a sword threatening to poke through the cardboard. She adjusted as necessary to not get stabbed. "Next time Maze moves in, you can get the big boxes."

Trixie grabbed a canvas bag that looked even heavier than her box and staggered toward the house. "Why would Maze move in again if she's already moved in? That doesn't make any sense."

Thankfully, Maze didn't have too much stuff to move in, and Maze was separating the boxes and bags based on _Trixie can open this one _and _This one has death-to-Trixie objects inside_. They got her moved in without much prelude, and Trixie ran back to her room to start on a new picture for Maze's door.

Chloe stepped into the kitchen to start some sort of brunch and when she turned away from the fridge she came face-to-face with a demon and had a miniature heart attack. "Maze, you can't do that, the standing-behind-me-and-assuming-I-know-you're-there thing."

"Sorry." She took three steps back. "What have you told Trixie about Lucifer?"

"Just that he's gone back to England. I thought I would tell everyone at work the same thing."

Maze nodded. "Nothing about him being the Devil? She's your child, and I think Lucifer liked her. And she's seen my face, it probably wouldn't surprise her too much."

Chloe glared at her as she started pancakes. "She's _ten_. That's too young to know so much about the world, like how heaven and hell and demons and angels are real. And I don't think she really needs to know, especially since Lucifer isn't coming back."

Maze stared at her in the way that definitely meant _you're an idiot_. "What happens if Charlie sprouts wings?"

"_If _that happens, I'll cross that bridge when we come to it." It occurred to her just as Trixie skipped into the kitchen exactly what Maze had said. "_Wings_? How long have they been worrying about that?" Maze couldn't answer the question, though, because she was admiring Trixie's new picture of grisly murder. She would have a talk with Trixie about that, since it was only a matter of time before she let something slip at school, except… Maze was moved in again, so it was only going to get worse, and teachers would probably just assume that she or Dan had talked about work too much. It would be fine.

She decided as the three of them ate breakfast that at least one good thing had come out of Lucifer leaving—as it turned out, the Decker girls needed Maze about as much as she needed them.

* * *

"Lucifer's _gone_?" Ella shrieked.

Dan managed a _so sorry, Chloe _face that was almost convincing.

"Lucifer can't have just left!" a random mail person said.

The entire precinct was a mess after she stood on the steps in the middle, took a deep breath, asked for everyone's attention, and delivered the news.

This was another gracious lie. Chloe was pretty sure that he wouldn't have thought too much about anyone at the precinct except Ella and maybe (maybe) Dan, but judging by the tears that had erupted in most eyes and run down some faces, everyone here loved Lucifer, and they needed the comfort.

She was bombarded with questions about his location (she wasn't sure aside from "England"), how to get in touch with him (he hadn't left a phone number or address, so impossible), and why he'd left. She answered the last question so many times that she was so close to saying just anything that occurred to her—he found out he was nineteenth in line to the English throne and went over to kill everyone else to get the crown on his head faster; he decided to go to business or acting or biochemistry school over there and wanted to be in seclusion for optimal learning; he was in isolated therapy for sex addiction.

Probably said something about the man she was in love with (and her as a person, honestly) that the last option was probably the most feasible. But she went with "something urgent came up, and he had to leave immediately."

Finally Lucifer's fans let her sit alone at her desk with her case files. She got a solid ten minutes of glorious and silent perusal before Dan appeared. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah!" she grinned as brightly as a sad Chloe could.

Dan scoffed, proving once more that he'd grown up recently. He'd never been able to see through her moods until the past three years or so. "Did you tell Trixie?"

She nodded, picking a random murder and separating it from the stack. "She'll be okay. And Maze moved back in." She peered up to catch his opinion on that, but she was pleasantly surprised by an agreeable nod.

"That's probably for the best. At least we'll get free babysitting and Linda and Amenadiel will get a break from Maze every now and then. Let me know if I can do anything aside from taking Trix on my normal days." He glanced down at her case file. "Want me to go with you for this one?"

Chloe nodded, her throat closing up with the tears she wasn't going to show. Dan nodded and walked back to his desk to gather his badge and whatever else he took these days. Before they could escape the precinct, though, Chloe found herself with an armful of Ella Lopez.

"I love you so much, Chloe, and I'm here if you need _anything_. Literally, anything you need. Lucifer will be back someday, I know it." Chloe patted Ella's back before pulling herself away.

"I'm not sure if he will, but thank you, Ella."

Dan managed to hold himself together until they got to the crime scene. "Did you at least tell him how you feel before he left?"

Chloe glared at the steering wheel before getting out of the car. "It's none of your business."

"Regrets, Chloe, remember—"

"Yes, okay! I did! I told him that I love him, he said he loves me, but he still had to leave, it didn't make any difference! There's no regrets on my end, except that I didn't pull myself together enough to tell him until two nights ago! Can we please just talk about the case?"

Dan pulled her into another hug—that made at least two too many hugs for the day, she was thoroughly hugged out—and Chloe was almost glad for the gunshots that prevented her from appreciating the affection. "Kenneth Murphy?" she shouted as they pulled out their guns. "LAPD! Put the gun down!"

* * *

Life kept on. Trixie went to school and begged for a dog. Maze hunted criminals and supported the dog plan. Dan went on a few dates and started going to improv again. Linda doted on Charlie and continued her occasionally ethically-confused practice. Charlie learned how to smile and out-talk (babbling, really) Trixie. Amenadiel… well, Chloe was never sure what Amenadiel did aside from smile at Charlie. He probably did whatever angels normally did. Which was… something. She was pretty sure he didn't have a job, anyway.

Chloe solved crimes at a _slightly_ slower rate than she was used to, managed to sleep through her morning alarm five times in six days, started figuring out what shelter to get this damned dog from, and realized she was pregnant.

The first was probably her fault (Lucifer hadn't really helped with the cases much, probably), the next was Trixie's fault (there were only so many begging sessions Chloe could take if Dan wasn't there), and the last was Maze's fault (okay, it was really Lucifer's and her own fault, but it was easier to blame anyone else other than herself and someone who was essentially a million miles away).

"You pregnant, Decker?" Maze asked absently from the bathroom door when Chloe was throwing her guts up for the fourth day in a row. It had gotten bad enough that she'd taken two sick days. Chloe _never _took sick days.

Chloe pulled her face out of the toilet long enough to glare at her roommate. "_No_. I'm not pregnant. I just have a stomach bug." As if soothed by the presence of something even more crotchety—Maze—her stomach settled and she scooted away from the toilet to prop herself against the wall. She was never eating again.

Maze leaned on the door frame and stared down at her, one eyebrow raised. Chloe had the distinct feeling that she was the wayward child and Maze the disapproving mother, and it was not a comfortable realization, since the situation would normally be completely reversed with her the responsible adult. "I thought Lucifer looked too happy in the hours before Charlie disappeared for it to be just a normal day. Good for him for finally wearing you down."

"First of all, it's none of your business." She finally managed to stand up and actually look Maze in the eye. "Second, he'd spent the entire day before gradually turning into a demony thing and he was mostly just happy to not be some monster. Third, whatever may or may not have happened that night between me and Lucifer is _none _of your business."

Maze shrugged. "It's definitely none of my business, but it's been six weeks since Lucifer went back to Hell, you're exhausted all the time, and you're throwing up like there's no tomorrow. You haven't eaten anything different than me and Trixie and we're fine."

Chloe finished brushing her teeth and pushed past Maze, an unsettling _oh god she actually might be right _feeling emerging. "Did you memorize a pregnancy book when Linda got pregnant?"

"I read more books than Amenadiel." She chose that time to hand Chloe a CVS bag. "If you want to find out if the Devil's gonna be a dad..."

Ten minutes later, Chloe was sprawled across her bed, laughing hysterically with a bemused demon. "It's just my luck, isn't it! He tries to get me in bed with him for, what, our entire partnership, and then the _one_ time that we actually do—it was not him getting me into bed, by the way, it was me _pushing_ him onto the bed—he knocks me up!"

They laughed for a moment at that, Maze looking far more interested in her aside about who-got-who-into-bed than she had any right to be. "I wasn't even sure if I was right," Maze said, leaning in confidentially. "Linda was insanely energetic until she passed out in Lucifer's penthouse. Trixie just got worried enough that I asked Linda about other pregnancy symptoms—I think she thinks _I'm _pregnant now, by the way, so thanks for that—and it was the only option."

Chloe finally stopped laughing and stared up at the ceiling. "Oh god, what am I going to do? Lucifer's gone, probably forever, and Trixie's ten. Isn't that too old for a baby sibling? I don't know, I was an only child."

"You're never too old for another sibling. I kept getting them until I was at least a hundred, when someone killed our mother. I think it was Lucifer, but he never confessed. And none of us cared enough to avenge her death anyway."

"That doesn't count. You were all spawned or something." Maze sniffed derisively. "It's not like Dan was really there all the time, because he was a textbook absent father until recently, but at least he was on this plane of existence or whatever… You all say that Charlie's going to sprout wings! What about this one? Does it still count if Lucifer used to be an angel? But he technically still is, right? I can't handle a winged baby! I refuse to bubble-wrap my house, and Trixie would be jealous!"

Her hysterical laughing descended into silent freaking out and Maze staring at her. The bonding session ended with Trixie bounding into the house. "Do _not _tell Trixie," Chloe whispered with her angry face before standing up and going to hug her daughter.

"Hi Mommy! You're feeling better! Where's Maze? Hi Maze! School was fun! I have a lot of homework so can I have a Pop-Tart, Mommy? I need the sugar to concentrate." Trixie smiled angelically up at her and she folded without another word from the monkey. Apparently she wasn't going to have much longer as an only child, so time to spoil her while she could. Maze rolled her eyes as Chloe responded to at least two of Trixie's sentences and reach for the box of sugar.

Maze did redeem herself from the lower status as person-to-reveal-roommate's-pregnancy back to the demon-bodyguard she preferred when she helped Trixie with her math.

Her attempt to act like everything was normal was successful until she woke up at 3 AM with tears on her cheeks and empty hands clutching at the sheets.

_We were wrong about something else in the prophecy. My first love was never Eve. It was you, Chloe. It always has been._ She remembered the feelings of his lips on hers, her tears on his face, his eyes searing into hers with certainty and apology and love. The worst part of all… that last word. She yanked the pillow out from under her head and pressed it over her face, but it wasn't enough to muffle the imagined word, his agonized whisper. _Goodbye_.

She peeked out from under the pillow and glanced down at her stomach. Well, if they had to have one good thing out of the whole mess that was their partnership, this would have to do. If she had to raise it alone in the name of the world's safety, she would. Decision made and new spot in her heart carved out and decorated for a half-devil baby, she curled back into her blankets. If it took far longer to fall asleep than it should have, she was going to blame Lucifer.

* * *

The words just somehow poured out the next morning over their respective cereals (Frosted Flakes for Trixie, some healthy thing for her, and Reese's Puffs for Maze—they were an odd bunch). It certainly wasn't thought-through, and she regretted them the moment she said them.

"Trixie, how would you feel about a baby brother or sister?"

Maze choked on her cereal. She looked back and forth between mother and daughter as if their conversation was her new favorite TV show.

Trixie glanced up at Chloe warily before returning her gaze to her soggy flakes. "Why?"

"Because… um… you're getting one." That was the worst possible way to announce her news. But there it was, out in the open.

Trixie stared at her until Chloe started twitching. "Really?" she finally asked.

"Really."

Maze leaned back and smirked. Chloe glared at her as fiercely as she could before turning her attention back to Trixie. Apparently, this was all the demon could have asked for, Chloe being awkward and Trixie staring at her with the strength of an interrogator.

Finally, Chloe couldn't take it anymore. "Trixie, monkey, you have to give me some sort of opinion."

Trixie kept up the staring for another twenty seconds, then she broke the terrifying wide-eyed stare with a grin. "I hope it's a girl."

Chloe laughed, trying not to cry, and stood up to grab her older baby in a hug. Trixie jumped up into her arms and she lifted her up, Trixie giggling.

Trixie gasped when Chloe set her back down, her eyes wide and hands over her mouth in overdramatic shock. "Is _Lucifer_ the baby's dad?"

Maze finally laughed, the sound making both Deckers stare at her. "I knew you were smart, Trixie," Maze managed between guffaws. Trixie turned back to Chloe as quickly as they'd looked at the resident demon, and Chloe just nodded. Maze gathered her bowl and spoon, almost tossed them in the sink, and disappeared up the stairs.

"And he left _anyway_? Even with a _baby_? Even though he _loves _us?" Trixie's voice was full of righteous indignation that made Chloe want to laugh.

She knelt down next to Trixie's chair, taking her little fists in her hands. "Lucifer doesn't know, monkey. He left way before I knew. I found out _yesterday_."

Trixie nodded, her anger fading away as quickly as it'd come on. They sat in silence for a minute, Chloe glancing back and forth between Trixie and the clock. If they didn't get moving soon, she'd be late for work and Trixie would be late for school. "Is Lucifer gonna come back now?" she asked quietly.

Chloe sighed. That was the real question. "He doesn't know about the baby, and there's no way to tell him, monkey. He's still probably not coming back."

Lucifer's voice reverberated through her head, the final damning words that would keep him in Hell forever. _We may have stopped it now, but for how long? I need to keep them contained. They must have a king. _For as long as the demons would want to walk the earth, so long would Lucifer be King of Hell. No matter his wishes, certainly no matter hers.

Chloe let Trixie sit there a moment and process, which didn't take longer than a moment. Trixie bounded up and started jabbering about her baby sister (god, she hoped it was a girl. Trixie was not even considering the possibility of a brother). She kept talking as long as it took to get ready for school then the entire drive to school. "I'm gonna tell everyone—" and that was the cue to stop her.

"Trix, honey, don't tell anyone about the baby yet."

Trixie's mouth formed a perfect pout. "But—"

"I need to tell your dad myself. He is not gonna want to hear it coming from anyone but me. And if you tell anyone—"

"They might tell Daddy." Trixie thought about it for a minute. Chloe held her breath, hoping the kid would bite. Dan's reaction was certainly a logical explanation, and it was definitely the only really child-friendly one. Finally Trixie nodded. "I won't tell anyone."

The grin the monkey was sporting as she got out of the car was probably not going to help keep the secret, but at least it wouldn't hurt. Chloe shrugged as she pulled away from the carpool line. There was no telling how long she could keep the secret, but today would buy her some time.

As she pulled into the station, she cursed Lucifer again for leaving. Self-sacrificial idiot.

* * *

The next day was conveniently movie night with the angel, mother of half-angel, and demon. Chloe's phone lit up when she arrived home from the office (which had been another day of _Chloe, are you okay? I'm here for you! Do you want me to come to the crime scene with you? How's Trixie handling everything?_, all of which was ridiculous since Lucifer had been gone for more than a month. At this point, she was going to have to either be fine or not fine, and honestly she was as close to fine as she was going to be. She did run to the bathroom to throw up a few times, which definitely didn't help convince Ella that she was fine).

**Lucifer Survival Group**

_Linda: Ready for tonight?_

_Amenadiel: Why am I even in this group chat, Linda? I see your calendar every day. I know when the events are._

_Maze: you deserve to suffer too_

_Maze: just kidding linda_

_Maze: linda_

_Me: what's the movie tonight_

_Maze: linda are you there_

_Maze: linda_

_Linda: I'm slightly hurt at your lack of excitement. But too excited to act on it! Tonight's movie is…_

_Linda: …wait for it…_

_Linda: You've Got Mail!_

_Linda: Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan!_

_Linda: The great duo!_

Chloe stared at the phone. Sometimes these people were as insane as Lucifer himself, the man they were recovering from. Or surviving without. The message name really didn't clarify. The thread stayed quiet for a moment until she felt compelled to help Linda out.

_Me: I'm excited, Linda. You've converted me_

_Amenadiel: I'm also excited, Linda._

_Linda: I don't feel like you're telling the truth, Amenadiel. But thank you, Chloe!_

_Maze: with this choice i declare you a torturer fit for hell_

_Linda: Thank you!_

_Linda: I think!_

_Maze: that wasn't a compliment_

_Linda: If you all don't laugh and cry at the right moments, I'm kicking you out. Maze, I'm talking to you._

_Maze: fine. i'll behave_

She dropped Trixie off at Dan's (the kid hadn't managed to convince Chloe to take her to movie night, and she never, ever, ever would; there was usually way too much alcohol consumed after Charlie was put to bed to keep it child-friendly. Her conversation with Dan was limited to _hi, I'll take Trix to school on Monday_, and _actually how about you come for dinner on Sunday night and drop her off then?_, and _okay sounds good_, and _bye_) and pulled into Linda and Amenadiel's driveway.

Amenadiel met her at the door with a babbling Charlie, passing him over without so much as a _hi, Chloe, how are you? Would you like to hold my child? Isn't he cute?_ and escaping further into the living room. Charlie grabbed onto her hair almost immediately and Chloe accepted that her scalp would soon ache. But he was fricking adorable, so it was okay.

"Chloe! How are you?" Linda called from the kitchen.

"I'm fine," she called back. The popcorn smell was approaching nauseating, and she mourned the loss of fake butter in her diet. Charlie tugged at her hair and she gently pulled it back out of his grasp. "Charlie's getting so big!"

"I know," Linda said, her voice wavering for a moment. Maze appeared from the kitchen, throwing herself down on the couch. She glanced down at Chloe's stomach and Chloe shook her head furiously for a second. Maze's eyebrows rose and fell, rolling her eyes and reaching for Charlie. Silent conversation over, Chloe handed the baby over and stepped into the kitchen.

She and Linda talked for a few minutes, the psychologist treating her like a glass vase for five minutes less than the average other person, which was probably since Linda herself felt like the glass vase instead. Amenadiel popped in and out, adding an accidentally-snarky comment here and there and taking bowls of popcorn to the couch.

They all sat on the couch, Charlie put peacefully to bed, and Linda turned the movie on, her eyes already rapt with appreciation for young Tom Hanks and overfilled wine glass in her hand. The movie droned on, and Chloe didn't notice any of it. Amenadiel was paying more attention to Charlie's I-didn't-want-to-go-to-bed-yet sounds (she assumed; he kept glancing toward the baby's door) and Maze was twiddling a knife.

The blessed monotony of watching a movie that didn't require too much thought to keep up with made her mind check out. Her brain flip-flopped from Maze (someday she was going to drop that knife and lose some fingers and it was going to be awkward for everyone) to Linda to Charlie to Amenadiel to the single reason she would fail every Bechdel test.

She managed to keep the condemning and/or happy words out of her mouth for the entire night, even if just because she didn't want to make herself into a hypocrite after her long speech to Trixie about not telling anyone. And because she could imagine Linda's reaction, and no one wanted to see that on _You've Got Mail _night. She guessed, anyway.

The four of them talked for a while after the movie about mundanities like detective work (Chloe argued that no, they probably shouldn't start another game night series with Ella and Dan included, Ella would become unbearable with Monopoly), bounty hunter work ("And then I held the knife to his throat and he—" "I think I hear Charlie crying." "Me too, I'll go check on him!" "There had better be space in his room for another person."), psychological work (Linda proceeded to almost cry over Lucifer not being there to be annoying and utterly fascinating anymore), and whatever went on with Amenadiel (he didn't say much. He rarely said much, but this time he said less than usual).

She didn't make it home until after midnight, when Charlie woke up with a vengeful scream. His tired and half-drunk parents had ushered the others out, and Maze had decided to go on a very late-night run instead of return home like the average human.

Chloe opened the door with a sigh, trying to walk inside instead of just fall gracefully onto the couch. It was a graceless fall, but at least she didn't end up falling off the couch. She pondered for a solid minute and a half about why she was so exhausted—she'd gotten sleep the night before, what more could her body ask of her—before the answer hit her like the headache that had been threatening since she smelled the popcorn hours before.

She managed to stand up, close and lock her house, and collapse on her bed properly before she addressed her stomach. "You, tiny demon, are going to be the death of me." She considered this statement for a moment. There was absolutely no call to be talking to one's stomach before there was even a change. "You will also be the reason I go insane."

* * *

Chloe had a relatively peaceful weekend, which consisted of doing absolutely nothing aside from making lists.

First list: what to do very soon. This list (written in blue ink) featured _make doctor's appointment_, _tell Dan & Linda & Amenadiel & Ella (without dying), tell mom?_, _calculate maternity leave (and tell work)_, and _figure out how to summon the devil from hell_.

Second list: what to buy. Red ink showed _ginger_, _m&ms_, _all cereals_ (somehow, they were almost out of all three types), _crayons_, _windshield wipers_, _everything with ginger_, _vitamins_, and _shit-ton of bubble wrap?_

Third list: surviving. Since this one was the one that would probably actually get displayed on the fridge, it had black ink and also _work_,_ ginger, Trixie_, _vitamins_, _exercise_, and a scratched out blob that Trixie probably wouldn't be able to read as _summon the devil_.

Her work done by noon on Sunday, she took a nap for the rest of the day, a nap that was punctuated every few hours with waking up to eat Saltines and throw up. It was a peaceful day, all in all. Chloe considered her life as she hugged the toilet again, and she decided as she wobbled back to her bed that it was as okay as it was going to be.

Lucifer's voice broke through a dream about evil bunnies. Immediately the dream shifted to the balcony, the rumpled bed behind them. They leaned against the railing, her wrapped in a sheet, Lucifer's arms tightly around her. They didn't speak, just watched the city fly by. She tried to shift in his arms, to look at his face, but he held her still.

The scene shifted and she stood facing him, his back to the city, tears on her face. "Please don't go," she begged. "I—I love you. I love you. Please don't leave. _I love you_."

His face crumpled and brightened at the same time. "My first love was never Eve. It was you, Chloe. It always has been. I love you, Detective."

His kiss burned her, and she gasped in his arms. When he pulled away, his face was bright red and skeletal, and flames ate away at his skin. His demon wings stirred the air behind him. He grinned, blood dripping from his mouth, when she took a step backwards.

"I'm the King of Hell, Chloe. What did you expect?"

She sat up in bed, the blankets puddling around her and her hands covering her mouth and her heart steadily beating its way out of her chest. She was still burning; even the tears streaming down her face felt hot against her skin.

"Chloe?" a voice called from the kitchen. "Where are you? You okay?" It took her way longer than it should have to place Dan's voice—what kind of person was she, that she apparently couldn't handle the true appearance of the love of her life to the point that she had a full nightmare about it? Well, actually, she'd basically tried to kill him because of it a few months ago, so what was a nightmare in comparison?—and she pulled herself out of bed to join him, wiping her face as she plodded into the kitchen.

Dan relaxed when he saw her appear in the living room. Chloe was proud of him for that reaction, since she was pretty sure she looked more ghostly than human due to the all-day sickness, the sheer amount of sleep she'd been getting, and the tears-inducing nightmare. Her thoughts were confirmed by Trixie, who stood next to Dan and stared without stepping closer.

The three of them stood in silence for a moment, all acknowledging that Chloe looked a bit of a wreck and agreeing to not mention it. "Chinese food?" Dan suggested.

Trixie cheered and Chloe managed to not get nauseous at the thought of food, so it was probably a good idea, which was confirmed the moment that the food arrived and she set upon it like it was the first thing she'd eaten in a week. Or weekend, which was nearly true.

The three of them talked for a while, mostly Trixie describing their trip to the beach (Chloe raised an eyebrow when Dan proclaimed his intention to teach Trixie how to surf soon) in such detail that she could almost smell the saltwater.

After they finished eating, Dan told Trixie to do her homework, which was immediately obeyed to Chloe's great shock. When Trixie (like any child of divorce, she guessed) had both of her parents around, she always wanted to stay up as late as possible with them, but the monkey just hugged her and walked to her room, glancing back and forth between parents, looking as guilty as she could without having done anything bad.

Chloe understood the reason for this guilt when Dan asked her to speak in private. They sat down on her bed in mildly uncomfortable silence until Dan took a deep breath. "Trixie accidentally told me that she's getting a baby sister."

"Ooh." There was just no good way to go about this, was there? "Yeah, Dan, I'm sorry, I meant to tell you first…"

Dan sighed, pressing his face into his hands. "And you're not adopting? That was what I was still hoping, to be honest."

She tried not to laugh, but it was impossible not to at least breathe out a chuckle. "No, I'm pregnant. And it's—"

"Lucifer's," Dan finished, looking like the dictionary's definition of resigned. "Trixie was very informative very quickly. I don't like the guy, you know that, so I'm not going to say anything there. I'm assuming it wasn't planned?" Chloe scoffed, and Dan looked even more pained, taking that as the answer it was. "How far along are you?"

"You literally don't have to ask any of this," Chloe said. "I'm keeping the baby, that's all you need to know right now."

"This baby's going to be my daughter's sibling, I feel like I should know some stuff," Dan said, finally looking a little irritated. "How far along?"

Chloe glared, because the man did have a point. "About six weeks, give or take a bit."

Dan very clearly did not do the math in his head to figure out when six weeks ago was. He clearly did not want to hear anything about the outside-of-work relationship between his ex-wife and Lucifer, which was not surprising and also good. "Did Lucifer know before he left?"

"Of course not," she muttered, trying not to be offended. "He wouldn't have left if he'd known."

Dan laughed, making her cross the line into offended. "He would have gone so much faster if he'd known, Chloe. The guy just can't handle responsibility. He—"

"Don't." Dan stopped talking and stared at her for a minute while she stared at the wall.

This was the one thing she'd tried not to think about: how would Lucifer react? There was absolutely nothing in their history (or his) to suggest that he'd react any differently than Dan would have expected (run and run and fly as fast as he could), and it was not something that she was going to think about. "Lucifer is gone, Dan," she whispered, turning to look at him again. "There's no way he's coming back, and I'm not going to think about what would happen if he knew. Whether he would have stayed or if he'd still have gone—it doesn't matter. I'm having the baby either way."

They sat quietly for a moment. Eventually Dan's arm wrapped around her, and she let her head fall on his shoulder. They both sighed.

"Trixie's going to be crushed if it isn't a girl," Dan finally offered.

Chloe tried to laugh. "I know. I'm trying to decide whether she'd handle a brother if it is a boy or if I'll just have to steal a baby from the hospital somehow."

Dan's shoulder shook as he laughed for a second. "You would never get away with it."

"Why not?" she asked, too tired to be offended again. "I'm a cop. I can get away with almost anything."

"Lucifer's kid loose in LA without you? California—no, the _world_ wouldn't stand a chance."

She thought about it for a second. If the kid was anything like Lucifer, the world was definitely doomed. She grinned. "I guess Trixie'll have to deal with it."

"Yep." He was quiet long enough that Chloe almost fell asleep on his shoulder. "I bet it'll be a girl, though. The world needs another Decker woman."

She smiled. "Either way, the world isn't prepared."


	2. Chapter 2

Six more weeks passed without notable incident.

Her OB appointment had confirmed that she was very much pregnant and with a definite due date since she (sheepishly) recalled the exact date of conception and she was informed that this was relatively rare so congratulations! Kind of? (She was in the doctor's office with all the evidence of a one-night stand... so maybe not congratulations.) After a semi-awkward period between "Ms. Decker? Come on back. Just you today?" and "oh, there's the baby!" they gave her a print-out ultrasound that she shoved into her purse and later taped on the fridge after a thorough examination—no visible wings.

Trixie got even more excited about a baby sister, and Chloe nearly killed Dan the day they came from a shopping trip with a pink princess onesie. She managed to stay calm and smiling for Trixie's sake, but Dan literally took two steps away when she met his eyes. Not only was she just barely out of the first trimester, there was a fifty percent chance that Trixie was wrong. And now she had a frilly outfit that this baby was going to have to wear regardless of biology, goshdarnit. This was the last thing the baby was getting before birth, she swore as she tossed it on her bed. Except for socks—she had a weakness for baby socks. She was probably going to buy baby socks.

She called her mom and told her. She avoided calling her mom enough that when Penelope Decker answered the phone, it was with a screeched "Chloe, are you okay?" that was repeated until she managed to interrupt the concerned tirade. The news left her mom speechless for a full twenty-five seconds and then she demanded to know who the father was ("Is it Dan? It's Dan, right, honey?") but Chloe had decided that since there was nothing she or anyone could do about the lack of present father, she explained it as a one-night stand. Which it kind of was—it was one night. (Two or three times in that one night, but just one night.) It was just a much more meaningful one, as compared to the normal met-a-guy-in-a-bar kind, if that even happened in real life. Eventually she got her mom to calm down and agree to visit at some point in the future but "No, Mom, you don't have to come now! I'm fine! Don't leave the job—_no, don't do it_" and then her mom was coming to Trixie's birthday party in four months. _Great_.

Maze proved helpful in planning to the point of sheer suffocation, and Chloe debated on whether or not to banish her to Amenadiel and Linda's until the baby was born. She changed her mind on this when Maze took it upon herself to drag in six criminals in four days and also find time to bring Trixie home from school all four days. It was then that she cried on Maze's shoulder and experienced the comfort of friendship and also the discomfort of knowing she was literally _crying_ on the _shoulder_ of a _demon_.

It was basically life, as normal as she could have expected. Somehow more normal than her life had been over the past year or so. Okay, one _slightly_ out-of-the-ordinary thing happened.

Chloe and Dan were following the tracks of the local branch of the LA Mafia and finding absolutely nothing. It wasn't too surprising—this sector of the family was quickly earning a reputation for cleaning up impressively well—and they were about ready to head back to the station to regroup when she saw an empty shell in the corner of the random warehouse.

"It's the same caliber as the Thompson murder," she whispered. The Thompson case was an unsolved case, an entire family of four murdered in the area for no obvious reason. Nothing had been found aside from the victims' blood and bodies, half of a fingerprint that may have belonged to the local mob boss, a single footprint outside that couldn't be linked to any shoes bought in the area recently, and a few casings. This matched exactly.

Dan bagged the shell. "This could be our link." She nodded and they separated to comb out the rest of the warehouse and hopefully find anything incriminating.

Before Chloe could take more than a dozen steps she heard a metal pipe roll and instinctively screamed, "Get down! LAPD!" The warehouse immediately lit up with gunfire, Chloe finding her way behind a few shipping crates and hoping for the best.

"Put your weapons down!" Dan called from a shipping container over. Someone screamed and she winced as a body fell. They kept shooting, either of them occasionally repeating the whole LAPD thing, but no one responded. After a few minutes of trading fire where Chloe became dangerously close to running out of bullets, a voice called,

"Stop! Fall back!"

Immediately, the warehouse fell silent except for footsteps pounding away. Chloe glanced out from behind her special shipping container and saw no movement except that of a twitching man on the floor. She kept her hand on her gun as she ran over to him. The man wasn't young, but he wasn't quite old yet, his black mustache in sharp contrast to the deep lines on his forehead.

She heard Dan talking as he approached, and she pressed harder on the guy's chest. "Backup on the way?" she asked. "This guy isn't gonna make it if they don't hurry."

"I think that's Flavio Romano," Dan said.

"Who?"

Dan let out a dry sort of laugh. "He's wanted for basically everything from petty theft to tax evasion to rape, including questioning in the Thompson case. He's in the LA Mafia. Did you seriously forget his name?"

Chloe glared up at him, not appreciating the reminder that pregnancy brain was real, even only three months in. Romano sputtered hoarsely, and she looked back down to see him choking on his own blood. "Well, we won't get to question him if they don't get here soon. As in _now_." As if her voice could summon people (which it sometimes definitely could, but usually not in this case), she heard the ambulance in the distance. "Go outside and wait for the paramedics."

Dan nodded, leaning down quickly to take Romano's gun and visible knife before jogging outside. The guy probably had another knife, but he definitely wasn't in the right mood to use it.

Chloe gazed down at the man she was trying to save. The stream of blood from his chest was slowing in a way that suggested he was running out of blood, and his eyes were glazing over. Suddenly—randomly—_insanely_—she remembered how Eve had summoned demons to earth. She kept the pressure on his chest but leaned down to his ear.

"I think I know where you're going if you don't make it out of here. If I'm wrong, I'm sorry, but you sound like a horrible person who's going to feel guilt for what he's done." Romano's eyes widened just enough that she knew he was listening. "So when you see _him_, because I think you will, you tell him that I'm pregnant—Chloe's pregnant. You have to tell him. Tell him that he's gonna be a dad."

She sat up, pressing on the wound even harder and glancing toward the door where the paramedics were rolling in the gurney. Romano was still breathing shallowly, but his eyes were rolled back into his head and she had seen enough death to know that he might not even make it to the hospital.

Finally someone took her place at the wound, and she stared at the man when they lifted him onto the gurney. It was only then that it occurred to her that she'd just done a very potentially dangerous thing, and she desperately hoped he survived even if just to prevent her words from getting to Hell. But she couldn't think about it anymore, because Dan was calling her over and they gave their statements and showed the techs what had happened and by the time they arrived back at the station she had managed to push her five reckless sentences out of her head. Mostly.

* * *

The next day, Chloe sat down at her desk with a sigh. She'd decided a few minutes after waking up that she was officially showing (she'd just poked her stomach and sighed and moved on) and now she had to decide how long to go before she had to tell her coworkers—and what she would actually tell them. Trixie's excitement and Dan's sympathy had been _nothing _compared to how some (Ella) would react.

So she sat at her desk and stared at her computer, thinking about nothing, if nothing was literally everything going pear-shaped in her life at the moment, which was basically everything except Trixie. Trixie was fine, as far as she could tell. And she hadn't thrown up in two days, so that was great. Everything else, though…

"Chloe?"

She held her gaze with the computer for another few seconds before turning to look up at Dan. "What?"

"Something happened last—" Dan cocked his head and pulled a chair over to sit next to her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm great, just great," she said listlessly. "You were saying something happened last night?" Dan kept staring, eventually daring to glance down at her stomach. She tried to roll her eyes, but she couldn't quite summon the energy. "I'm _fine_. What happened?"

He sighed. "Flavio Romano is dead. He coded at about 4 AM and the night nurses didn't get to him in time."

Chloe pressed her fists into her eyes and leaned back in her chair, exhaling slowly. Calmly. "Are you sure it was from the wound and he didn't get killed or anything? None of the nurses are related to someone he'd probably killed? Or anyone like that?"

"They're sure."

"He never admitted to killing the Thompson family, did he?"

"Nope," Dan said, the _p_ snapping neatly. "We really don't have anything to do now except wait for more intel to come in. Neither of us got eyes on any of the other people who shot at us yesterday, so we can't even look for them. And the warehouse was our last lead, locations-wise, aside from the normal LA Mafia hang-outs, and there's not enough evidence to just charge straight in."

"Great." She didn't have the energy to do anything, but she still would have welcomed the distraction of a case. But naturally, just as she needed a case more than anything, there were basically no cases. When she was avoiding Lucifer after she got back from Rome, she had been very efficient and gotten through the simple cases, and it seemed like the demons had taken all the murders with them when they went back to Hell. "Guess I'll just sit here then."

Dan nodded. He stared for a few minutes more while she returned her attention to her computer—maybe she'd scroll through Twitter for a bit, get into some arguments with random people, repost pictures of kittens, anything to try to make her mind move again—before standing and sliding the chair back to its place.

The violently-enthusiastic scratching of the chair on the ground made her jump and look up, expecting to see—nothing. It was just Dan. It wasn't—it wasn't him. A rushing sound coursed through her ears and she stared at the screen as tears filled her eyes. She couldn't hear him, she couldn't see him, she couldn't—she couldn't.

Energy _rushed _through her body and she stood up suddenly, the force of the movement shoving her chair into the desk behind her. Her vision blurred by the tears she couldn't and wouldn't let fall, she swept her arm across the desk and the computer monitor and all her organized papers went flying, smashing to the floor a few yards away, the screen shattering. She was vaguely aware that someone was making noise, but she wasn't sure who it was until she felt someone grasp her forearms. "Chloe. _Chloe_, stop. Come on, we're getting out of here. It's okay, i've got her."

She followed Dan blindly out of the precinct, his hold on her arm tight and sure enough that she didn't have to watch her step.

"What the _hell _was that?" he asked the minute they were far enough from the door to the precinct that they wouldn't be heard. He let go of her arm but didn't step away. "You said you were fine—"

"I'm not fine, okay!" she bit out. Her fingers were tingling, pins and needles traveling from her fingertips to wrists, and she could barely breathe. "There is absolutely nothing for me to do, which would normally be great, but it isn't because that only makes me remember that I'm completely alone right now. Yeah, I have you and Trix and Maze and Linda and Amenadiel, but I am basically alone! He's _gone_, Dan! He's gone, and he can't come back, and I can't ask him to come back, because no one can!"

"Chloe—"

"And on top of that, I'm pregnant, which basically sucks until you have an actual baby, which'll still be weird because I'm having the child of the literal Devil!" She realized suddenly that the tears she was determined to hold in were falling, and her knees were buckling.

"Whoa, don't—" Dan caught her as she started falling.

"He's the actual Devil, Dan, and he can't come back," she repeated, clutching his arm and trying to _make him understand_. If someone else could understand, if there was anything anyone else could do—maybe she could—she didn't know, she didn't know—

He gasped, glancing down at his arm. Her hold was leaving white fingerprints on his skin. "Chloe, I'm taking you home now. You're not making sense at all, Lucifer may be horrible but he's not the actual Devil. You need to go to bed, Chloe."

They started walking toward his car. She didn't let go of him the whole way, and she was very thankful that they had managed to be friends again. "He is the Devil, though," she said sleepily as she buckled herself in. The energy that had flooded through her body faded into an afterthought. "I've seen his face."

Dan's startled laugh was the last thing she heard before she fell asleep.

* * *

She woke up in her bed, under a blanket that normally stayed on the couch. She felt better—her breathing was back to normal even though her fingers and feet were still tingling, and she didn't have the desire to go spread Lucifer's secret throughout Los Angeles anymore. She shoved her head under the blanket and groaned. _Go Chloe. What a move. Probably going to get fired now_. Voices downstairs got louder. Her head reemerged from the blanket.

"I can't watch her like this."

"Dan, she'll be okay, she's strong—"

"You don't have to tell me that," Dan scoffed. "But she had a complete breakdown in the precinct. She threw her computer across the room with barely a touch, and I think—I think I saw sparks flying from it as it flew, which—electricity really doesn't work like that. And then she started screaming at me outside before almost collapsing."

"What did she say?" She placed the voice as belonging to a wary Amenadiel, then she tensed before trying to stand up. Oh, no no _no_, Dan wouldn't—

"She kept saying she's not okay, and then she kept calling Lucifer the actual Devil. Which, I know, Lucifer calls himself that all the time, but I've never heard Chloe say it."

Amenadiel sighed. She couldn't imagine what his face looked like. "Is she okay other than that?"

They were silent for a minute while Chloe finally managed to get her shaking legs under control. "I don't know what she's told you," Dan said, "but she's pregnant."

Complete silence. "She's what." Amenadiel's voice was so flat that she could have made a paper airplane out of it.

Chloe held onto the wall, blanket draped around her shoulders, and made her way down to the living room. "Hi, Amenadiel." She glared at Dan. "Thanks for telling everyone my business, Dan."

"I was just concerned, Chloe, and I didn't know who else to call aside from the hospital—"

"He was right to call me." Amenadiel took a step closer and stared down at her, looking like an avenging angel. "It's Lucifer's child, isn't it?"

Chloe met his eyes, where fire flickered in the dark brown depths. She nodded.

"You should have told me."

"It is my business, Amenadiel. Not yours, not Linda's."

"Linda would have been able to help you. And Lucifer is my _brother_, I needed to know. You _know _that you should have told me!"

Her hands were shaking with the urge to punch something or someone, preferably Amenadiel or maybe a wall. "I'm perfectly safe, if that's what you're concerned about! There's nothing here anymore that could hurt me or—"

"Guys!" Dan interjected.

"You know the risks, Chloe! What if the same thing happens as happened with _my son_?"

"What else was I going to do?!" she screamed. "Lucifer isn't here! He took the danger with him!"

Amenadiel was about to scream something back, probably something that would have been vaguely insulting, when finally Dan stepped between them. "Guys, stop. Stop. Now." With his calm yet angry tone forcing peace, the three of them sat on the couch.

The need to punch something faded, although her hands were still shaking, prickling, almost burning. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Amenadiel." Amenadiel nodded slowly. "The idea of telling more people made it seem more… real."

"And this is not a situation you dreamed yourself being in. None of us would have expected it, honestly."

"Not at all," she tried to laugh. They sat in silence for a minute. "Don't tell Linda yet, will you?"

Amenadiel leaned forward, not looking at her. "I won't tell her. As you said, it is your news to tell. I also don't want to be the one to tell her that Charlie will have a cousin. Whoever tells her that will have to deal with hugs and enthusiasm, and I think you deserve that."

Chloe felt that overwhelming exhaustion settle back down on her and she stood up to hug him and Dan. Dan's hug felt like nothing so much as an apology, and Amenadiel held on tightly for a few seconds longer than she expected. "Thank you for coming to check on me," she said, not knowing what else to really say. "I'm going to sleep until it's time to go get Trixie. Which _I_ am doing, don't try to take that away." Dan nodded, and Amenadiel patted her shoulder.

She wandered back to her room, assuming that Dan would lock the door when they left. She heard them say a few more sentences, then her house fell silent again. Sure enough, the door locked. She sighed and curled back under the insanely soft blanket.

That was when it occurred to her, in the silence and aftermath of an argument—Amenadiel's fierceness upon finding out hadn't been because she hadn't told him, but because of how much danger Charlie had been in less than three months ago. There was no chance that that fear didn't still plague him at night—the times that Trixie had been in danger still appeared in her nightmares and always would, and her child hadn't been kidnapped and almost made King of Hell recently.

When her alarm went off a few hours later, she almost smiled when she realized that she'd fallen asleep with her hand on her stomach.

* * *

She didn't get more than a few odd looks at the precinct the next morning, probably due to Dan, who arrived much earlier than she did and had straightened her desk (sans computer, of course, since she was going to have to grovel to get a new one with department funds) and had also distributed doughnuts.

"Chloe, are you okay?" Ella asked. "I saw what happened yesterday, and Dan said you're fine now, but I wanted to check on you anyway. Are you okay?"

Chloe managed a smile that she was pretty sure was genuine. "I'm fine now. It was mostly about Lucifer, yeah, I think I was due a breakdown."

"You definitely are! I mean, I'm a mess, so many other people are messes, but you! You've been so calm and gracious about all of it, and he was your _partner_!" Ella sat down on the edge of her desk and they sat in silence for a minute while Chloe rummaged through the papers that Dan had stacked in the wrong order. "I know that Linda has Charlie now and Maze is all over the place, but what if the four of us went out for drinks this weekend? It's been so long since I hung out with fellow women, and I'm sure it's been longer for you, and you need to have fun!" Ella held her hands up in defense when Chloe opened her mouth to protest. "Not that you don't have fun, but it's been a really, really rough few months! You need to get out and have fun!"

She stared down at yesterday's armed robbery (finally a case to work, hurray) while she thought. Maze basically didn't ever get drunk (thanks, supernatural constitution), so she'd be willing to take all of Chloe's drinks. Even though it sounded so good, even the tiniest bit of oblivion… oh well. "You're right, I haven't been out in forever." She did not want to think about how long it had been since she'd had fun that didn't involve her daughter, Lucifer, or movie night. "That sounds great, Ella. Friday night?"

Ella squealed and jumped off the edge of Chloe's desk to pull her up into a hug (god, Ella liked a tight hug). She managed to not flounder too much, which she thought was admirable. "Yes! It's gonna be amazing! I'll call Linda and Maze, and we're gonna go out, just the two of us, even if the other two can't!" Ella ran toward her office, leaving Chloe to arrange her papers and shrug. She'd figure it out even if Maze couldn't go. Ella was not the most observant when there were piña coladas and flashing lights involved.

Five minutes later, Ella reappeared. "Maze is down for Friday!" She cheered along with the forensics scientist, who ran back to her samples as quickly as she'd manifested. Another twenty-two minutes later, she showed up at Chloe's desk with a "Linda is free! Amenadiel is gonna watch Charlie!"

Chloe didn't have time for more than anything than a grin before she heard "Decker!" from across the precinct. The captain stood at her door, tapping her toes on the polished floor. Ella patted her arm sympathetically.

Three hours later, Chloe took her sandwich from the counter, dropping a few quarters in the tip jar as she turned to find Ella and Dan. "What did the captain say?" Dan asked before she even sat down next to Ella.

"Let me eat," she muttered. Dan nodded, letting her take three whole bites before he repeated the question. She swallowed as dramatically as possible without choking before answering. "She's gonna let me get a new computer, which is great. I really didn't expect it. She recommended I attend some grief counseling or maybe anger management."

"Are you going to?" Ella asked softly.

She scoffed, letting that be the answer. Ella and Dan both nodded. She didn't add the rest of the captain's conversation ("While the loss of Lucifer was a great blow to all of us, I know that the two of you were particularly close." "Yeah, I guess so." "I'll be frank. I don't know if you two were involved, but judging by the way you stared at each other all the time, I assume you were. And I know what it feels like to lose a partner like that, both in the police force and in personal life." "We weren't really—" "You can return to your desk, Decker. I didn't write down yesterday's incident since there were extenuating circumstances. And I won't require it, but please consider the grief counseling.") because Dan would have gotten uncomfortable and Ella would have attempted to begin her own grief counseling.

They finished their lunch in relative peace (Dan and Ella only argued once) and started their walk back to the precinct. Dan caught her by the trash cans before they left the restaurant. "Did you get maternity leave while you were talking to the captain?"

"Yeah. I added it onto the grief counseling conversation. The captain now probably thinks that Lucifer and I were together for years." (Considering that she'd just tacked "On an unrelated note, I will need maternity leave in about four months" to the end of their conversation—she'd literally stood up, spit it out with a single breath, and almost escaping the office before being called back to actually figure out dates, the captain had reacted relatively well.)

Dan nodded and they jogged to catch up with Ella, who had been talking to herself and hadn't noticed they weren't following her. "I'm so excited for Friday night, Chlo!"

"What's Friday night?" Dan asked innocently.

"We're going out," Chloe answered just as innocently. He raised an eyebrow and she glared him into silence. "You'll take Trixie, yeah?"

Dan was sufficiently cowed that he said maybe four words on the way back to his desk, one of which was a yes to picking Trix up from school and keeping her for the weekend. Plans made (including texting Maze "_you'll help me get non-alcoholic drinks and cover it up from ella and linda right_" and receiving "_virgin drinks_" and "_lol_" in response, which she took as a "_sure, I'll definitely help you prevent fetal alcohol syndrome_"), Chloe spent the rest of the day in relatively good spirits.

The only problem was how often the captain stuck her head out of her office to stare at her and chuckle to herself before adding a sympathetic nod. That was going to get old quickly.

* * *

Even though Chloe didn't drink at girls' night two nights later, she found that she didn't remember much of it as she pulled into her driveway. It was mostly flashing lights and intoxicated people and basically the environment that would cook up all sorts of interesting things from friendships to new relationships to STIs.

From the beginning, Maze was firmly on Team Keep-Chloe-Sober, and Linda and Ella were even more firmly on Team Get-Chloe-Very-Very-Very-Drunk. As a result, Linda and Ella got very, very, very drunk, and Maze got tipsy, and Chloe stayed unbearably sober. Whenever Linda or Ella ordered something for her, Maze stole it (whether she chugged it when they were looking away or grabbed it while they were watching, they were none the wiser). Whenever Chloe ordered something for herself, it was water disguised as straight tequila or some virgin fruity delicious thing (the pure sugar didn't manage to cover up the fact that there was still no alcohol in it, and she was going to have to eat nothing but salads to make up for the sugar).

All in all, it was a good night. Maze talked about her bounties (and her romantic conquests, both in too much detail and overlapping a bit too much), Ella described some of her recent Tinder dates (and vowed to delete Tinder five separate times), Linda gushed about Charlie (and Amenadiel a few times, although Chloe had been relatively sure that they were almost completely platonic again, which added another whole layer of confusing), and Chloe almost cried about Lucifer (and even more about how much Trixie was growing up, both of which were normal topics for drunk!Chloe).

The evening had ended, as many seemed to, with Maze in a fist fight, Linda and Ella cheering her on, and Chloe dragging the three of them away and hoping really hard that she didn't get punched. On the one hand, getting punched is not good; on the other hand, if she punched back there was a good chance she was going to seriously hurt someone, considering what she'd done to her computer the other day. Which—add that to the list of Important Things to Ignore Until There Was Time for a Panic Attack.

She called (a strangely giddy-sounding) Amenadiel and made him take Linda and Maze (she was going to be selfish or generous and not get between their particular friendship for a night) home. The angel's face was _priceless_ when she shoved the two women in his car, and she and Ella laughed the entire walk to her car.

It was good that Ella had thoughtfully written her phone passcode on Chloe's arm before she got too drunk, since Ella fell asleep halfway back to her apartment, and her address was her phone's home screen. Sober!Ella really liked to take care of drunk!Ella. Chloe woke her up when she pulled up, and after an earnest conversation about forensics and a ghost named Ray-Ray and the location of her spare key, Chloe deemed her sober enough to not die on her way up to her apartment as well as capable of getting inside and not dying there.

She got out of her car, stretched, and sighed. She locked the car and stepped toward her front door. A few feet from the doormat, she stopped and cocked her head at the door, which was a few inches ajar. "Dan?" she called. It was completely dark inside, and she didn't hear Dan or Trixie talking.

Chloe reached for her gun, which wasn't there, naturally. She edged toward the door, which appeared basically unharmed, and nudged it open. "Hello?" There was still no sound, so she stepped inside and felt around for the light switch next to the door. She flipped the switch and the room brightened, revealing a man's back.

"What are you doing in my house?" she asked.

"Oh, I let myself in." His voice echoed through her, and she took a step backwards, closing the door with the motion. He turned around and she fell against the door, her heart beating a steady path through her chest. "Detective?"

"Lucifer?" she breathed.

* * *

He didn't say anything for a minute, and she just stared at him. His suit was rumpled and a little dusty but still somehow immaculate. His beard was longer, slightly more unkempt, outlining his thinner cheeks. His hair was ruffled, as if he'd been running his hands through it for a week. His eyes were wild and red-rimmed and exhausted, and she could feel his gaze devouring her even as she scanned him.

"Chloe…"

She took a step forward. He mirrored the movement. Then she stopped and held a hand up, shaking her head. "What are you doing here? _How_ are you here?"

Lucifer almost smiled, but it was closer to a grimace. "Amenadiel came and got me. He said—he said I had to return, damn the consequences. And then he picked me up and flew us out of Hell. And I'm offended that you thought I was Daniel."

Chloe laughed for a moment. She took another few steps toward him. She opened her mouth to say who knows what else, but Lucifer interrupted her, closing the distance between them to a single stride.

"Before you say anything, I have to say something." Finally, finally, he touched her, brushing a bit of hair out of her face. He stared at her again, his gaze traveling up and down her body. "I—I love you, Chloe. I didn't really say it before, when I left. But I do love you." It looked like he was going to say something else, but she didn't let him get the words out.

Then, for the first time in three months, she was in his arms. She pulled his head down as he leaned down to meet her. His kiss was burning and blazing, and soon they were close enough that she couldn't quite tell where she ended and he began. Every time he tried to pull away, she yanked him back, and he dove back in, and it was a long, long, long time before he pulled far enough away to gasp out, "Chloe, let me hear my own voice for a minute."

She giggled and let him go a few inches. One of his hands remained tangled in her hair, while the other rested on her hip while both of her hands stayed on his chest. He grinned down at her for a few seconds before sobering and taking a very deep breath. His eyes darted around the living room before finding her face again.

"You told a dying man that you were pregnant."

She blinked. That was _not _what she'd been expecting. That was on her list of things to ignore. "It was the only way I could think of telling you, and I thought you should know."

"With _my child_." His eyes bored holes in her head.

"Yeah, I'm glad he got the message down."

Lucifer sighed, almost a growl, and pulled away, digging his fingers into his hair again as he turned in a circle before whirling around to stare at her again. "We just went through this with Charlie, Chloe! The demons would be satisfied with any being with angel blood, and my… my _child_ would satisfy the requirement just as well as Amenadiel's! And since they still want revenge against me and make no secret of it, even with _me _on the _bloody _throne, they would want an angel of my blood even more!"

She blanched white for a second. "What happened?"

"I killed a few hundred demons before being relatively satisfied that the news had stopped spreading. Flavio Romano is getting an interesting punishment. Turns out he has a deathly fear of chipmunks." Before she could blink, he'd led her to the chair next to the couch and lightly pushed her down. "Are you okay? Do you need water or anything? I'm sorry, you don't need to know this—"

"I do, though," she interrupted, "because I did tell a dying man that the Devil was going to have a half-human child without truly thinking of how many demons would find out." She tried not to hyperventilate for a minute while Lucifer, satisfied that she wouldn't pass out on the floor, stared down at her with arms crossed. Finally she was breathing again, deciding to trust Lucifer when he said he'd killed enough demons. "Why did Amenadiel go get you? I didn't tell anyone about the telling-dying-guy thing."

Lucifer scoffed. "Apparently Detective Douche has been worried enough about you that he begged my brother to find me and bring me back to you, despite how much he hates me. You just can't live without me." He started the explanation with a frown but ended with a self-satisfied grin. She glared at him, and he grinned back before melting. "And I would have taken any excuse to come back, except that, as well as the need to rule the demons, I found it far harder than it should have been to leave. I strengthened the walls around Hell to prevent demons escaping, but apparently I fixed it too well. Weakening them enough to bring myself here would have opened too many holes. Amenadiel can break in and out without stressing the boundaries."

They stared at each other for a minute, Lucifer's face finally softening from something approaching fear back into its normal smile. The last bit of her own fear melted away the longer he stood in front of her, like just his presence was enough to make her feel safe again (so counterintuitive, the Devil making her okay again). "I'm glad you're here," she whispered, reaching out a hand for him. _Even though we both know you shouldn't be_, she left unsaid.

He slowly took her hand and let her pull him down to the couch. It took a bit of maneuvering before they were lying face-to-face, Lucifer's back pressed into the back of the couch. It didn't take much time after that before her eyelids were drooping, the combination of girls' night, the surprise of Lucifer, and his demonic revelations bringing back that seemingly eternal exhaustion.

They needed to talk. They needed to discuss what him being here meant (what would happen in Hell without the king?) and how to tell anyone (probably best she hadn't gone with that sex addiction therapy after all) and the baby (everything. That was going to be the longest and most painful). But it wasn't the time to talk, not when she was suddenly so tired that just keeping her eyes open was too much work.

"I'll be here when you wake up," he murmured, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer as she fell asleep. The last thing she felt was his kiss on her forehead.


	3. Chapter 3

"The _hell_?" was the first thing Chloe heard when she woke up. To be exact, Maze's frustrated scream was what woke her up. She groaned and pressed her head further into the warm thing—body—person—Lucifer. Oh, right. He was back. She sat up and grinned up at Maze from over the side of the couch.

"Oh, hello, Mazikeen," Lucifer muttered, his face now squished against her arm. She stood up to give him a little room to breathe, finding in the movement that her hair was genuinely inexplicable. "Yes, I'm back from Hell, it was a truly harrowing journey, Amenadiel didn't even let me fly myself, can you believe him. How are you?"

Maze made unintelligible noises that Chloe interpreted as pure evil intent. Before she or Lucifer could respond, the demon stalked to the kitchen, poured a bowl of cereal (which didn't end up thrown at Lucifer's head, thankfully), and stalked to her room. Lucifer sat up—scooting her over so that they were sitting side-by-side on the couch—and glanced at Maze's departing back before grinning at Chloe.

"That was unexpected," he smiled. "I thought she was going to attack me."

"Me too. She's been interesting since you left, even clingier than usual." She wasn't really surprised by this—Maze needed someone to protect, and she and Trixie and the baby were the ultimate choice. Maze tolerated her and adored Trix, so it did make sense. And then the whole mess with Charlie—Chloe shuddered.

"Are you okay?"

She glanced over at Lucifer, the concerned expression on his face a better declaration of love than she could have ever expected. "Just thinking about the baby and Charlie."

"Ah." The concern on his face melted away into something far more Lucifer-like, that usual mixture of weird lecherousness and chivalry, mixed with a side of pure discomfort. He stood and wandered toward the kitchen. "Coffee?"

She sighed. "I can't have caffeine while pregnant, Lucifer. Thanks for the reminder."

"No problem, love. Your life is utterly boring." He whirled back around toward her just as quickly as he'd escaped to the kitchen. "Where is the spawn?"

"Trixie's with Dan. It was girls' night last night, and she didn't deserve to have to witness that, even though I wasn't drinking."

Lucifer was almost pacing. Not quite pacing, more like a vague shuffle from one direction to the other that always ended in different places; he was back in the kitchen, then at Trixie's door, then the stairs that led to her and Maze's rooms, then the couch, then back to Trixie's door. He hummed and kept walking.

She took herself to the kitchen and poured her cereal, marveling at both his inability to notice that his suit was a _wreck_ and the observation that she didn't feel even a little bit sick (for the time being). Finally she had to look away from Lucifer, the sort-of pacing making her almost dizzy. "Lucifer, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just making sure that—"

"If you're looking for demons, you aren't going to find any," Maze said flatly, reappearing without a sound. Chloe almost jumped but not quite, and Lucifer turned to her as if she'd been a part of the conversation the whole time. "I patrol every morning and evening, ever since you disappeared back home, and I will know the moment that they return."

"They're definitely coming back?" That had been the first thing on her list of things to talk to Lucifer about, come to think of it.

"They're not definitely coming back, Detective," Lucifer muttered. "But since—"

"Since your boy toy isn't in Hell anymore, they could return at any time, no matter the security he added to the walls," Maze said, almost rubbing her hands together in anticipation. For the fight or the chance to prove Lucifer completely lovesick and ridiculous, she wasn't sure. "There's only so long before they'll test your threat."

Lucifer scoffed and opened his mouth to add something, Chloe desperately hoping that it wasn't a mention of her imitation of Eve's let's-just-communicate-with-demons fiasco. There were some things that she really wanted to stay between her and the Devil, and that was top of the list. At that minute, though, the front door chose to fly open.

"_Lucifer_!" Linda cried. Before anyone could move or react, Linda had flung herself into Lucifer's arms. "You didn't even say goodbye before you left!"

"Linda," Lucifer said flatly, only the smile in his eyes and curling around his mouth making him look less than unfeeling. He set the psychologist back on the floor. "I had to go, Linda, the demons—"

Linda actually waved a hand to dismiss the sentence. "Yeah, yeah, Chloe and Amenadiel explained it all." Amenadiel, Charlie nestled in a sling on his chest, waved from the door. Clearly actually coming over at 8 AM had not been in his plans for the day. "But you could have dropped by for a few minutes at least! Just to explain yourself. We've had to give excuses for you everywhere! Or Chloe has, at least. I haven't seen anyone you talk to except Ella."

"Ah, Miss Lopez. I'm sure she'll be ecstatic at my return," Lucifer grinned. Chloe immediately pictured it, and Lucifer wasn't going to be able to breathe for a few minutes after Ella got ahold of him. The great Lopez Hug.

From a few steps inside the apartment, Amenadiel coughed. Lucifer glanced at him sharply, and she watched them have a silent conversation that didn't seem to end happily for either of them. She took the last bite of her cereal and choked on the sugar.

"Chloe!" Linda shrieked, apparently just noticing that she was in fact in Chloe's home. "How are you?" She pulled Chloe into a hug so fierce that she almost got the breath knocked out of her. Linda still smelled like tequila. "Did you know Lucifer was coming back?"

"No, it was a complete surprise to me," she managed. It was the truth—she hadn't expected him to actually come back—she'd just wanted him to know and maybe consider coming back at the cost of humanity and then… well, it kind of worked. Anyway.

They sat down in the living room, her pressed as closely to Lucifer as possible (Linda had not commented yet), Amenadiel and Linda looking like the perfect model of co-parenting, and Maze standing as aloof as she could while still clearly interested and caring. The six of them save Charlie and his cooing were silent for a few minutes (Chloe noticed that Lucifer's single glance at his nephew had been full of terror, and it made her start to think about a facet of their situation that she really didn't want to think about, the last note on the _what to talk to Lucifer about _list; she decided to table it for later when they were alone again). "I don't think the demons are coming back any time soon," Lucifer started.

"How can you be sure?" Amenadiel asked. "The only reason they went back to Hell before was your assertion of dominance, claiming the throne again. I did not bring you back because of my belief in the demons being content with roaming only Hell. They want to get out, they want to cause havoc again. It's been their desire since Creation."

"_I _caused the havoc this time," Lucifer said grimly. Amenadiel nodded, exhaling slowly.

"Why did you bring him back, anyway?" Linda asked, leaning forward slightly, as eager for an answer in the living room as she was in the safety of her office.

Amenadiel and Lucifer both started excuses that would have no doubt gotten accidentally around to the truth, so Chloe just went ahead and interrupted them. "I'm pregnant."

Linda stared. "What?"

"Lucifer's the father."

"_What_?"

"Dan told Amenadiel after I had a bit of a breakdown and Amenadiel apparently decided to take Dan's advice to find his brother."

"_What_?"

Maze huffed. "I guess I should be grateful that the reason you're back isn't just to protect Chloe, but instead to prevent her having panic attacks. I was covering the protective detail just fine on my own, you know." She directed the last few words at Amenadiel, who nodded serenely. Charlie's peaceful almost-asleep face was the mirror of his father's calm visage.

"You're _pregnant_? With _Lucifer's _baby?"

Lucifer sighed. "When you word it like that, it's exactly like Rosemary's baby. Please don't."

She did not want to go into the whole Lucifer's-vulnerability-near-me-includes-getting-rid-of-the-natural-birth-protection thing, because slight _eww _and also _cringe_. "About fourteen weeks along," she added, knowing that Linda's questions would stop the sooner they were answered.

For the first time in a few hours, Lucifer managed a proper smirk and whispered, "And a few days," in her ear, which made her almost (but not quite) blush because a) he remembered the actual day and b) that was honestly somehow his first acknowledgement of the event that made all this recent nonsense happen since it—well, happened (she'd remembered that Trixie was alone with the sitter, kissed him one more time, and run from the balcony, and then she saw him chipper in the office the next morning). He actually wiggled his eyebrows. Amenadiel groaned, but it was almost a light-hearted sort of sound.

She finally returned her attention to Linda. Actual tears were filling her eyes. "And everyone knew except me?"

"I—" There was no right answer to that question. "There was never a good time."

"Charlie's going to have a cousin!" Linda squealed, no longer hurt by her order on the need-to-know list. She sprang up and almost threw herself on top of Chloe to hug her for the second time that morning. _Amenadiel had been right about the cousin enthusiasm_. "Oh, do you think it'll be a boy or girl?" Linda asked the moment she stood up.

"For Trixie's sake, it'd better be a girl," she said. "She won't shut up about her baby sister."

She felt, rather than heard or saw, Lucifer's own panic begin. He tensed up so quickly that she wouldn't have been surprised if he pulled a muscle just by flexing. Thankfully, Charlie also chose that moment to wake up and _scream _straight into his father's face. Amenadiel and Linda immediately stood, explaining that they hadn't brought anything for him, and with another hug all around and a few more happy tears from Linda dripped onto her shirt, they disappeared out the door as quickly as they'd come inside.

Maze obligingly followed them outside, folder of bad guy in hand, content with the small explanation of Dan and Amenadiel's interference and also you're down a hundred or so demon siblings, so they're afraid.

Finally, Chloe turned to Lucifer and prepared for calming him down. He beat her to it—not the calming part, but the outpouring-of-emotion part.

"I can't, Chloe, I can't."

She thought about reaching for his hand but she really didn't want him to jump back and hurt himself somehow. He was fidgety enough that it didn't seem too unlikely. "You can't what?"

"Be a _father_!"

She blinked. She'd _almost _been expecting that, but not enough for it to not hurt like the… devil. That was not a good expression anymore. "What do you mean by that?"

"I can't be a father, Chloe." He stood and paced again, not looking at her—again. "My dad wasn't the pinnacle of great fatherhood, and I didn't even let him try to parent me. And I'm the Devil! I can't be a father. I can't."

Finally he met her eyes, and his were so red-rimmed and bloodshot she almost couldn't tell for a second whether it was just human stress and tiredness or if he'd accidentally channeled devil eyes.

She stood up and stepped behind the couch, leaving a barrier that they both needed. Or at least, she needed it. By the time she was safely behind the couch, he'd taken a step toward her and his expression had crossed over into completely desperate. She thought for a minute as she stared at him.

"_Why_ did you come back, Lucifer?"

"Amenadiel said—"

"Amenadiel said I was pregnant and completely unable to handle it. Which is completely wrong, I'm fine. Mostly fine. Anyway. You'd already killed all the demons who'd heard about it by then, no one knew and no one would be coming after me. Did you seriously just come back because your brother said I was overly emotional? Maybe I do have a bit of extra strength now, the computer monitor did not survive even a little toss across the room, but I can handle it!"

Lucifer stood with his hands shoved into his hair. His eyes were glued to her hands, which she noticed were tingling again. "I—"

The door clicked open. "_Lucifer_!"

Chloe sighed. "Oh, crap."

* * *

Trixie had completely ruined all attempts at an honest conversation. Her screech and subsequent leap into Lucifer's arms had made both of them completely forget what they'd been talking about (and her hands stop tingling) and honestly she was okay tabling it for a bit… again. Probably not a healthy response, but considering most of the honest talks they'd had over the past year had ended with one of them (usually her) crying and the other (usually Lucifer) justifiably offended, she didn't mind leaving this one for later. It had to happen, though. It really did.

Trixie didn't let go of Lucifer for a solid hour after she jumped into his arms and slammed him down onto the closest chair. Chloe was pretty sure it was the longest amount of time that Lucifer had had constant physical contact with one being. Yeah, _physical contact _had probably lasted longer (a few untimely but glorious mental images appeared and she had to shove them aside before Lucifer and Dan noticed something weird about her face), but just _hugging_ someone for that long? Not likely at all.

Dan stepped over to Chloe once Trixie was safely clinging onto Lucifer like the little monkey that she was. "Amenadiel texted me earlier this morning that he'd sent word and Lucifer would come back today. It was definitely a lot faster than I expected, though."

"And you decided not to come over as early as possible?"

Dan grimaced. Like, a full on _I smell something awful _grimace. "I was going to wait and give you guys a day or two, or maybe a week. Trixie found my phone and screamed and celebrated like I'd given her that dog after all and then cried. So I thought we'd come over and interrupt whatever was happening."

They turned to Trixie and Lucifer on the couch, Dan smirking immediately at how uncomfortable Lucifer looked with an armful of kid.

"I missed you so so so so much! You shouldn't have left! Why did you leave? But you came back! Mommy didn't think you were coming back! But I thought you would, since you and Mommy are having a baby. You shouldn't have gone, though! People who love people don't just leave, and Mommy says you love us."

Dan choked and ran to the kitchen, throwing open the cabinets with abandon. Lucifer turned full-on scarlet. Chloe took a step forward to see if she could pry Trixie out of Lucifer's arms. Trixie tightened her grasp on the Devil. Chloe decided to just let it keep happening. The worst that could happen was Trixie full-on choking Lucifer—oh, that could actually happen, since he was basically human in her presence. Great; she was going to have to pry Ella away from him after all. She sat down on the couch again (she'd spent way too much time on that couch; had she even left it all day?) and joined the conversation that was only barely a conversation.

Trixie finally let go of Lucifer when Dan put the spaghetti on the plates. When Chloe smelled the food and felt the usual am-I-really-hungry-or-really-nauseous dance, she realized that Lucifer hadn't eaten in who knows when. "Trix, let the man get up," she said, pointing toward the sink and hand-washing.

Lucifer breathed a sigh of relief when his midsection was released. "You could have made the spawn go away sooner," he muttered.

She had a feeling that saying something like "get used to it, buddy" would be a bad idea. Instead she leaned against him for a second, the first physical contact they'd had since Linda's interrogation and their almost-argument, and he inhaled shakily, burying his nose in her hair for a second. He reached for her hand, touching her palm carefully, and she suddenly knew that the feeling in her hands hadn't been imagined. But it wasn't the time. He squeezed her hand once and let go.

And thus began the first family dinner. Trixie was glowing since all her favorite people minus Maze and James (her first crush) were at the table, Lucifer switched between mildly inappropriate and shoveling spaghetti in his mouth like there was no tomorrow, Dan couldn't decide whether to glare at Lucifer or appreciate that he was no longer on keep-Chloe-sane duty, and Chloe managed a solid four bites before nausea plus weirdness stole her appetite and tried to convince her to throw up ASAP.

All in all, it was a great dinner. Dan and Lucifer were civil, Trixie was an angel, and Chloe wasn't too awkward. Was it bad that it gave her a lot of hope for the future?

A few hours later, Trixie was in bed (that had been an entire fight. She only agreed to go to bed after Lucifer promised six times that he wasn't leaving again—each of which left him more frustrated and uncomfortable—and Chloe promised that they could all go to the movies together), Lucifer had finally changed out of his dusty suit and into some old pajama pants and a random white t-shirt she was pretty sure was originally Dan's (wow, that'd been there a while) and washed off the grime of Hell, she was leaning against her pillows, and Lucifer was pacing back and forth at the foot of her bed.

"Lucifer." He didn't stop for a second. "Lucifer." She unhooked her bra from under her sleep shirt (yeah, she'd changed after losing the fight with the nausea. Lucifer had not followed her into the bathroom, which was a relief) and threw it across the room toward the laundry basket. That warranted a single glance at the semi-lacy projectile before he resumed the pacing. "Lucifer, sit down."

Lucifer stopped moving and finally turned to her. "What, Chloe?"

"We need to talk. I don't want to talk any more than you do, we've proved that we're not really great at communication sometimes, especially the most important things." Lucifer's attention was caught, his hand inching toward her leg for a second before stopping. "But we need to figure out what we're going to do."

"About what?"

Chloe glared at him, and she felt the tingling in her fingers start again.

"We can talk about that, for one," he said reluctantly.

"What?" She finally looked down at her hands. There was the slightest glow emanating from her fingertips. "The hell?"

Lucifer started talking, and it looked like every word was basically drawn out of him like a pulled tooth. "Every angel has different powers. Amenadiel fights, Azrael watches over the dead, and I was the angel of light. There's more, et cetera. Angels rarely have children, but when they do, some gifts are passed to their children." Chloe did not miss the _they _in his phrasing. "It looks like your child will have some sort of light powers."

"And strength," she said. She related the full story of how she got to use departmental funds for a computer she destroyed.

Lucifer groaned, but an amused smile tickled the edges of his mouth. "The child's powers are transferring to you, to some degree. For extra protection. There was absolutely no need for me, really."

"I had a full emotional screaming breakdown and Dan and Amenadiel freaked out. They thought you would steady me or whatever. Or at least Dan did, I don't know what Amenadiel was thinking. He probably just wanted us to be happy."

He shuddered. "What man wouldn't? Hard to call either of them men, but I'm not dealing with that either."

She laughed, turning what she hoped was a soul-burning glare on the Devil. "Oh, you did this to me, you're dealing with it."

"As I recall, you were the one who pushed me onto the bed, not the other way around. You were the seducer, Detective." His eyes darted from her mouth to her chest and down, leaving a burning sensation in their wake. He didn't move closer though, just stared until she was fairly sure she was going to have to lean forward and pull him down. But he interrupted the plan with more words. "But with you already displaying powers so soon, this child will be sought after."

"What do you mean?"

"My sister Remiel came to earth before Charlie's birth, searching for the boy. She thought he was a child of mine at first. Amenadiel dealt with her, but Remy would have taken Charlie to Heaven to be raised the moment he was born. And you'll recall how the demons of Hell wanted Charlie. It was nearly a fight between Heaven and Hell, instead of just earth and Hell, for Charlie. For this one, who already has light powers before it's born? Hell will rise to get its hands on it."

Chloe just stared at him for a minute. All of that for a baby? All of that for a child who wasn't even born or was just a few days old? She felt her heart rate increase, and the urge to throw something was getting stronger. She couldn't think clearly, just needed to protect, could barely see clearly anymore, just had to protect the baby, she was going to be safe. Her fingers prickled with pins and needles, and she wanted to attack something. The baby had to be safe, she had to be safe, she had to be—

"Chloe!" She focused on Lucifer. He was holding her arms steady, the fists on either end shaking. "Calm down, my love. No one's coming for the child. Breathe, Detective. _Breathe_."

It took another five minutes before Chloe could see clearly again. By the time the feeling in her fingers melted away, she was cuddled in Lucifer's embrace. "What's happening to me?" she murmured.

Lucifer sighed and nuzzled his chin in her hair. The extra beard prickled. "When you get stressed, the baby gets stressed. When the baby gets stressed, the baby's powers lash out, even if they're only protecting a three-month-old blob of cells that barely looks like a child. My… my DNA, my powers, they're enough."

She took a few more deep breaths. "This is why Amenadiel let Dan convince him to find you."

Lucifer nodded, the motion pulling at her hair. "As the child grows, the surges may get stronger." Chloe groaned. She was only three months along; how could they get _stronger_? "The power will attract all manner of creatures, not just angels and demons. I believe that the walls of Hell will hold for a while, but Amenadiel was right. And since they were my powers too, I may be able to mitigate some of the effects."

"So I need more protection than what Maze can give."

Lucifer nodded, almost a smirk, and she rolled her eyes. Of course he was enjoying that, being the great and strong protector. They sat in silence for a few minutes. Her thoughts were whirling (her stomach, thankfully, was not), but she felt calmer than she'd been in weeks, with Lucifer's arms surrounding her. That didn't make her feel like the strong independent woman she was, but when supernatural things were involved, she'd have to be okay with it.

Finally she asked a question that'd been lurking on the back of her mind since Lucifer's first outburst that morning. "What did you mean, you can't be a father?"

Lucifer was silent for another minute. Taking all the minutes of the day together, it would probably make the longest amount of time he'd been quiet—ever. "I don't know how to be a father."

"No one does—" she objected.

"I'm the bloody Devil, Chloe."

"You love Trixie."

He scoffed.

She kept on before he could call Trixie _the spawn _again. "I know that you love Trixie more than anything, you can't help it. Remember, you liked her before you even really tolerated me. I know that you would have died to save her, back when Malcolm shot you—"

"I was shot for you—"

"Remember when Tiernan's men came to kill you at the penthouse and Trixie had run over to see you? You told me then that you'd do _anything_ to protect her. And just three months ago, you went back to _Hell _because something threatened your nephew."

"They could have come for you—"

"Yeah, they could have come for me, but they _had _come for Charlie. You saved Trixie, you've saved her more times than I even want to remember. You're the reason that Linda has Charlie with her tonight, instead of just wondering how he's doing in Heaven. The point is…" She turned to face him. Fear and resignation were stark across his face. She cupped his jaw in her hand, finally touching him as closely as she'd wanted to for hours. "You've already got the most important parts of fatherhood, or parenthood, down."

"But I don't know _how_," he whispered. "I'm the Devil, Chloe. I'm not _good_. Daniel isn't either, but at least he knows how to try to be a good person, how to pretend. I don't even…" he trailed off into a whisper.

"You just love them. God knows—sorry—I'm not good either."

"Of all the people I've met, you're the only truly good one, Chloe."

She shrugged. Did it really matter? No. It really didn't matter. "All I know to do is love Trixie. I know that you love her too." She placed her hand on her stomach, where the bit of a bump was showing. "And I know you love this one, probably so much you can't think about it. Face it: you wouldn't have come back to earth for just me, if Amenadiel said that I was having panic attacks or just missing you a lot. You would have stayed in Hell, because you needed to keep the demons there, because you had to be that line of defense. You came because you knew there was someone else who needed you too, far more than I do."

A tear ran down Lucifer's cheek. Before she could move to brush it away, he leaned forward and kissed her, carefully weaving his fingers through her hair and pulling her closer. It didn't take long before she realized that she was crying too, but she couldn't pull away. There was something about his embrace, the way that he was holding her, that felt like home.

Eventually he pulled back. Without a word, he stood and padded to the door, turning the light off. Before he got back in bed, he pulled the blankets up and around her, crawling in behind her. When they were finally situated, heads close on the pillows, he spoke. "Somehow, you always see the good in me, Detective, even when I'm sure it's not there."

She smiled. "I love you too."

His fingers crept down her side, tiptoeing down to her stomach, the movement reluctant but sure. When they reached the tiny bump, his hand splayed, protecting.

And that was how they fell asleep.

* * *

"What day is it?" Lucifer asked, his voice drenched in sleep.

"Sunday, I think."

"How long before the spawn demands breakfast?"

"She'll fix herself cereal or something if we take too long. If you smell fire, that's when we'll have a problem."

Lucifer exhaled, breathing out a laugh. They lay in silence for a minute, Chloe finding that she'd turned in the night so that her back was pressed to Lucifer's front so closely that it felt like she was half of a puzzle. Lucifer's hand crept back over her hip and down to her stomach again, reaching under her shirt.

"That tickles," she murmured.

Before she could say anything else, he had her flat on her back with him leaning above her. His grin was nothing short of devilish. "Really now."

It was another five or twenty minutes before Lucifer was satisfied that he'd found all of her ticklish spots (not all of the ones he'd focused on had been ticklish spots exactly, but that was just what Lucifer's touch did to her). She brought her giggles under control and grinned up at him. He looked like the cat who got the canary—Devil who got the detective?—for a few seconds, eyes traveling back and forth over her.

Finally his gaze settled back at her stomach. Her t-shirt had ridden up (no surprise) and the bump that was almost a bump was visible. His hand reached out to touch it even as his face showed nothing but fear. She reached up and touched his face, trying to reassure him. He wouldn't hurt her; he wouldn't hurt Trixie; he wouldn't hurt the baby; he was nothing like the things the baby's powers already knew about, the things that those powers already protected her against.

His hand settled on her stomach, and he leaned down to rest his forehead on his hand. "You were right," he whispered, voice raspy. "Every instinct is screaming at me to protect you, always has been since we met. But every part of me that loves you is reaching out for _this_ too and, Dad help me, I have to protect it too."

Chloe smiled, feeling tears well up again. There were really no words for the moment, so she rested her hand on his head and combed her fingers through his hair.

They were quiet for a few minutes, a few blissful minutes of peace, before Lucifer opened his mouth again. "I hate kids, they hate me, there's no way this will turn out well."

"You love Trixie and Trixie loves you, she loved you from the minute she met you—"

He scoffed that away, which was fair since she'd mentioned it so many times in the past few conversations. "I guess I'll tolerate this one, though. Even if she gets glitter on my suits."

"That's the spirit." And with that, she couldn't not kiss him again. It was impossible not to. By Lucifer's standards, that was practically an "I love you" screamed to heaven.

It was only the fire alarm that broke them apart. Lucifer groaned while she tried to roll off the bed. "Why do you let the spawn cook if no one's watching? Or even if someone is watching. It'll clearly just end in failure."

Chloe glared as she straightened her shirt before running down the stairs. The reasons she'd let Trixie cook by herself in the first place—a few weeks ago the child had managed better pancakes by herself than Chloe had ever made—were smoking. Trixie turned to her with an angelic grin as she scraped breakfast into the trash. "Hi Mommy! Hi Lucifer! I burned the pancakes."

Lucifer turned to her with a grin. "This is why I hate children."

The rest of breakfast (once she managed to just barely not destroy the fire alarm in her quest for silence) was spent fielding the verbal tussling between Lucifer and Trixie. She was pretty sure that she didn't stop smiling the whole time.

* * *

Chloe took the next three days off. The asking led to the captain being completely and utterly concerned (she hadn't even known they were friends like that), Ella texting four full sentences of love and worry and care in 23 seconds, Dan retrieving a reluctant Trixie for a week, and Lucifer deciding that they were going to spend an entire day in bed.

And so they did.

Who could blame her, Chloe thought as she looked in the mirror for the first time all day. There was no reason to look in the mirror, since she wasn't going anywhere, but it was weird to look in the mirror at herself and seeing something she could call completely and utterly happy. She shrugged and stepped out of the bathroom, back toward her lounging shirtless boyfriend-Devil-baby-daddy.

On Wednesday, Lucifer drove them to Lux. The place had been basically left to run itself, since Lucifer certainly hadn't bothered to find a new owner or anything before leaving, and Chloe had spared one single thought for the place (basically _should probably do something about that_—_not today_) before deciding to let it simmer like the boiling pot of debauchery it usually was, Devil or no.

They silently rode the elevator to the penthouse and stood on the balcony, hand-in-hand, watching the skyline. Lucifer's words flashed in her mind again, as they always would, but this time it was a memory, something that couldn't hurt her anymore. When they'd looked their fill of Los Angeles, Lucifer tugged her to him and kissed her, his touch opposite their last kiss on the balcony: fierce rather than tender, fiery instead of soft, the promise of forever instead of the final ticks on a clock.

Chloe grabbed a few blankets from his bed on the way out of the penthouse; he had the best blankets. Lucifer smirked when he saw the bed. "Ah, remember when you tackled me onto that bed? Such fond memories, wouldn't you agree, Detective?"

She couldn't decide whether to blush or nod, so she settled for both, followed by a "Remember how we accidentally made a baby on that bed?"

With that, Lucifer was sufficiently cowed, though not enough to repress an offended sniff.

They locked the penthouse behind them, Lucifer sighing just enough to let her know that he still wasn't completely okay with their arrangement. They'd decided the day before that Lucifer would move in with her and Trixie (and Maze, although who knows how much longer the offended Maze would want to stay with Lucifer—come to think of it, since Maze was a roommate of equal paying power, she should probably get some say in this matter) instead of her and Trixie moving into the penthouse, as per Lucifer's original suggestion.

They had agreed that the three of them needed to be together so that Lucifer could satisfy his weird protective instincts, Chloe could actually get a decent night's sleep (it was amazing how well she slept with the Devil wrapped around her), and Trixie could get some version of a stable home life. _Stable home life _were words she'd never expected to be near "Lucifer" in a sentence.

If it had been just Chloe, she'd have probably moved into the penthouse (after she got it suitably disinfected because _ew_), but she wasn't going to let Trixie be exposed to so much… _much _whenever she had to come and go home. So for now, the Decker-Espinoza-Morningstar clan (wow) was going to remain semi-suburban. The thought of it was enough to make her stomach flip.

Lucifer hung up the suits he'd collected from his closet in the penthouse, and then they both sat down on the bed side-by-side to stare at the juxtaposition of her clothes—fussy business suits, comfy around-the-house sweats, and fancy dresses—and his suits. "That looks weird."

Lucifer shuddered. "I was not meant for this kind of life," he agreed. "They're going to miss me at Lux and in every other place I go to. I'll be stuck playing Monopoly forever, which will probably still be a while even though you'll be here to age me. I'm going to go _grey_, Detective."

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" she asked, taking his hand but still not looking away from the closet. If she arranged it so that her dressy stuff was closest to his jackets, it would be a little better. "I don't want to keep you in this life if you're going to hate it."

"I know what I'm doing, Detective. I may not be suited for it, but for you and the spawn I'll do what I must. Until you agree to move into Lux, anyway."

Chloe snorted and leaned over to kiss him before standing. "Good luck with that one, buddy. Don't you dare mention it to Trix. She'll love the idea."

"Exactly why you should move in!"

"Nope."

"But Detective…"

The rest of the vacation from real life passed in a happy blur. Chloe slept completely soundly like she hadn't since she found out he was the actual Devil, and Lucifer was actually sweet. They sat around the house and did nothing, went shopping once, and almost went dancing before Lucifer remembered that a few of the demons who'd come up last time had gone to Lux, and he completely refused to return for a while. It was only a little irrational.

They only had a few fights that ranged in severity from "there aren't enough chocolate chips in my pancakes" to one almost-serious disagreement that started when Lucifer almost literally ran away when she took a step toward the bathroom to throw up again that led to her questioning his commitment that ended with them snuggling on the bed.

"If you're not going to be _here_, then you can't be here." It was a sentence that she knew didn't make sense, but she also know he would understand.

He sighed. "I can't change overnight, Detective, even if I wanted to."

"I know. But I can't… I can't take it again, being left behind. So if you're going to do it, go ahead and leave now."

Before she finished the sentence, he'd snuggled even more tightly into her. It was a wordless commitment, a soundless _I love you_, and she took it and crossed out most of the tallies in Lucifer's "absolute dick" column, adding credit to his "actually sweet" category. It was honestly amazing how much he'd grown since they'd met, and she silently vowed to not forget that: how much he'd changed for her.

"Remind me to punch Detective Douche when next I see him."

She kicked his shin as gently as she could.

* * *

"_Lucifer_?" Ella screamed from across the precinct.

Chloe sighed. She'd tried to convince him to stay at home for one more day, maybe go about the town and get a bit of the playboy out of his skin, but he'd insisted on coming to work with her. Which meant that he was hovering. Which also meant that when Ella sprinted over to hug him, she was still close enough that Ella accidentally punched her in the shoulder when her arms were flying up to hug him.

It was somewhat weird, but also really nice, to see everyone flocking around Lucifer again. Once she managed to get away from Ella, she wandered to her desk and sat down, watching everyone hug him and gush at him and cry about how glad they were that he was back.

"How could you leave without saying goodbye?"

"Did you miss me?"

"Did you bring back souvenirs?"

"Where did you go?"

"Are you and Detective Decker together finally?"

The last question was met with a devilish smirk and a "Well, since you ask…" that was interrupted by the captain calling him to her office. Chloe just watched their conversation with a grin before glancing down at her massive pile of cases. She'd made Lucifer promise not to mention that she was pregnant (although that had been met with a shocked laugh and "You think I _want _to brag about this? About how my perfect record of sleeping with women and getting none pregnant has been broken?" That had led to a slight argument and Lucifer storming out of the house for seventeen minutes exactly before coming back and begging forgiveness in his typical _I am incapable of social niceties_ way. She forgave him), but she hadn't made him promise anything about whether they were finally together or not. She really didn't care.

She was completely sucked into the work of deciding urgency on new cases when Lucifer reappeared. "You told the captain you're pregnant."

"Yes, and?" There were literally no suspects on one case of a man found dead in an alleyway. The man didn't have any family noted either, all they knew about him was his name since he'd still had his wallet on him, so she stuck the folder haphazardly in the middle of the stack. It would get solved eventually, but she couldn't promise when. Although… it apparently wasn't a robbery, so why had he been killed? She moved the folder closer to the top.

"And, she could be a demon!"

She looked up from the cases to stare at Lucifer. "Are you saying that the captain could have died without my noticing, her body taken over by a demon, a demon which then just waits around to do something to me until _after _you get here? Also, wouldn't you recognize it? Don't you know all your demon subjects?"

Lucifer stared blankly back, still indignant, before making a sound that was almost a growl. "Fine."

"I'll be careful, Lucifer, I promise. Did you get paternity leave?"

"Yes, but I don't know why—"

"Because you're going to be too tired for work after the baby gets here too," Dan helpfully inserted. "Not just Chloe's baby, man," he faux-whispered.

"I know that," Lucifer muttered. He glanced at Dan's face and she only just saw his fist clench in enough time for her to grab him and hold him back from avenging the trust in humanity that Dan had helped her lose. He sighed but turned around to smile angelically down at her.

Dan, oblivious as ever, looked down at her desk of strangely-sorted cases. "Anything good?" he asked. "I was trying to take a few off the stack for you, but a lot came in over the past few days."

"More cases than usual?" Lucifer asked, eyes sharp.

"They all look normal. Average LA killings." _Not demon-like_ was what she meant, and he exhaled slowly. There were no instances of someone dying and then standing straight back up to go kill someone else, and that seemed to be the MO for a demon, as far as Chloe knew. "This one just happened yesterday, body found in the middle of a crowded mall."

Lucifer made a noise that was far too interested to be appropriate. Chloe stared up at him, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Dan was making the exact same face at him. Lucifer did not react to either reproachful face.

Three hours later found Chloe running through the mall, chasing after their only suspect and screaming "Get out of the way!" as loudly as she could and really hoping that Lucifer was closer than she thought he was.

Thirty minutes after the running, she was leaning against a wall with Lucifer beside her, both of them panting and Lucifer looking vaguely furious as she traded shots with the nephew of the victim. At this point they were assuming the nephew had realized how many people stood between him and a fairly good-sized inheritance and decided to narrow the list.

Another hour later, she was covered in paint and sitting in the conference room in the precinct, the suspect well on his way to jail after a brief time with Lucifer's mojo and glowing red eyes. "Well, I caught him, didn't I?"

"You couldn't have been a little faster about it?" he muttered. Lucifer was examining the single spot of light green paint on his suit, his only remnant of the day's escapades. "Also, if you just give me a gun I'll be able to bring down the suspect before you, then you won't miss and explode the paint cans on the side of the room."

"How many times do I usually miss?"

"You scarcely ever miss, but when you do—"

"I'm sorry about your suit, okay! But you're not getting a gun! You already have the mojo and the desire thing and everything else, you're fine!"

"But—"

"You two are just so cute," Ella sighed. "And did you catch him in a frozen yogurt place?"

"We're not that cute. And what? Yogurt?" she asked.

Ella motioned at their pastel-splattered wardrobe. "Nowhere else would be bold enough to paint a store that color." Chloe glanced at Lucifer and they shrugged. "Anyway, our guy is definitely the killer. Matches the only image the security camera could get, and he's the perfect size for strangling the vic. And also he confessed. So that's it for today!"

They exchanged grins before leaving the conference room. As she stepped toward the stairs, she heard a muffled squeak, and she turned around to see that Ella had grabbed Lucifer in another ribs-crushing hug. Ella was holding onto him tight enough that she knew it would do absolutely no good to try to pull him away. "I missed you so much," Ella said into Lucifer's chest.

"I missed you too, Miss Lopez," Lucifer muttered back, his arms finally finding their way around Ella's back. Chloe smiled. It was really precious, honestly, Lucifer learning how to be human. And if he learned how to survive a hug from an over-enthusiastic forensics lab tech… well, it wouldn't hurt him—too much. Maybe it would help him start to get used to Trixie's hugs.


	4. Chapter 4

The next few weeks were basically great, by Chloe's normal standards.

Trixie was doing great (she was surviving school like a good middle schooler, she'd gotten rid of that pesky crush that had threatened to give Chloe a heart attack, and she still asked if the baby was a girl almost every week).

Dan and Lucifer were getting along (even at work, which was sometimes all she could possibly ask for in life. They were even submitting to her desire for weekly Decker-Espinoza-Morningstar dinners that she made sure to host even if just for Trixie's sake, which was far more than she could ever have expected).

Lucifer wasn't being too much of a jerk (except for the night he went back to Lux and crawled back in the morning asking for forgiveness—even though as far as she could tell, he hadn't done anything worse than stare at a few strippers, which—nothing new, even _she_ did that. And it wasn't like she was demanding he change; she'd fallen in love with the jerk he was, and when she mentioned that off-hand he almost cried).

Even movie night with Amenadiel and Linda and Maze was good, since Lucifer barged his way in and made everything slightly better. He managed to get Linda to explain to Amenadiel what he'd done wrong in raising Charlie that week, and he got Maze to talk about the mark she was pretty sure was innocent but had watched die anyway. And it was a good reminder that she and Lucifer were actually friends before anything else, since they could still tease each other and be absolutely ridiculous, and she loved it.

The only annoying thing was that she was showing enough that she was going to have to either a) find the baggiest shirt possible, or b) announce that she was (almost six months) pregnant and deal with the fall-out, or c) live in denial. She went with the second choice, since Lucifer and Dan were both getting ridiculously overprotective, and she could only yell at them so many times about it before someone got suspicious.

The final straw was out at a site, where she learned that she couldn't lean down quite right to see the wound on the body that Ella was showing her and Lucifer appeared at her side to help her stand up and he fussed for a moment in typical British/devil fashion and then she whisper-yelled at him and then Ella started staring and then she punched him just a little on the shoulder but it was enough to throw him back a few feet and then she just had to take a walk.

"Chloe! Stop!" Lucifer called from behind her.

She whirled around. Her fingers were tingling. She'd read that that could be a symptom of a panic attack, but she'd had enough of those after her dad died and the paparazzi were hounding and she didn't recognize this feeling. Lucifer's face was stormy and the concern on his face made her itchy. "You can't do this to me, Lucifer!"

"Do _what_? Try to keep you safe? I can damn well try to keep you safe! That's all I've done for months now!"

"You can't suffocate me and keep me from _bending down_ to look at a _body_! Yeah, I apparently can't lean over right anymore! That's just because you're _freakishly_ tall and—"

The hair on the back of her neck raised, and, completely distracted from their argument, she turned around to look down the street. A robed figure stood in the middle of the road, shadowed in the sun. "Chloe," Lucifer breathed, suddenly standing right behind her. The person—a woman, she thought—took a step backwards, and wings flashed behind her. In another moment she disappeared. "Please come back to me," he whispered. "Right now."

Without a word, she turned around and let him push her lightly back toward the crime scene, his hand on her back. "Who was that? I did see someone, right?"

"We'll talk about it at home."

His tone did nothing for her anxiety, but the comfort of his hand on her back (resting right on the place that had been aching for an hours, coincidentally) was enough to stop the tingling in her fingers, step back up to the body, and accept half of Ella's explanation of the cause of death before interrupting her. "Ella, we've got to go home."

"You _and_ Luc? I can't keep him at least?"

She took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm really not feeling so great. Can you tell Dan to take over when he gets here? Don't tell him that I don't feel good."

"Aww, what's wrong? I have a lot of medication in my car if you need anything! And why can't I tell Dan?"

Chloe sighed. "I'm pregnant."

"If you tell Dan that Chloe's sick, he'll just get pissy and then you'll have to deal with it, he's been such a pain throughout this whole mess," Lucifer chimed in.

Ella's mouth fell open. "You're—_what_?"

She was too rattled to do much more than accept Ella's hug, withstand her exclamations about how it was literally the worst time to learn about such exciting news like this, and give her leave to pass along the information before Lucifer opened the door for her and she drove them home.

The silence was nearly thick with anticipation, and Lucifer kept turning around to check the road behind them. "Who was that? I did see wings, right?"

"That was Remiel, my sister."

She blinked a few times. "You have a sister?"

Lucifer sighed. "I have loads of siblings you've never met and I've never mentioned. They don't come to Earth and never visited me in Hell, so I don't think about them as much as I'm forced to think about Amenadiel."

"Why is she here?"

"I have an idea, but she'll explain when she appears again, I'm sure."

They pulled into the driveway without seeing the angel again. Chloe was a few steps from her front door when the woman appeared directly in front of her. Lucifer let out a growl and pulled her away before she could even scream.

Remiel smiled slowly. "I knew that I sensed another Celestial, Lucifer. Last time it was Amenadiel's child, but this time it is yours after all. It was only a matter of time, with all your promiscuous ways."

"Yes, the child is mine, but it's not a Celestial, sister. And—for the record—it isn't the result of my _promiscuous_ _ways_. Those days are coming to an end, unfortunately."

Remiel took a step closer, and Lucifer took a step backwards, forcing Chloe to hop back a little to avoid being stepped on. "What do you want?" she managed.

"Celestials do not belong on earth, Chloe Decker. Your child should be raised in Heaven, alongside its kind. The other angels will love and care for it, and it will be far happier and safer than it could ever be on earth."

She stepped to Lucifer's side before he could pull her behind again. "So you want to take my kid away the moment it's born? You said the same thing to Amenadiel about Charlie, didn't you? Well, you'll get the same answer he gave you. My baby is staying with me."

Remiel's wings burst from her back as she stepped closer once more, and every one of Chloe's instincts screamed for her to get _away_. But she stood and waited, her hands shaking and fingers prickling. Remiel inhaled slowly, shaking her head. "Lucifer, do you have any idea what you have done to this human?"

"What do you mean, what I've done to her? It was fairly mutual, wouldn't you say, Detective?" He reached a hand between Chloe and Remiel to pull her back again, but he didn't move as quickly as Remiel, whose hand shot out to rest on Chloe's stomach.

Chloe's vision whited out when the angel touched her, and the tingling in her fingers evened out into pure fire. She felt her hands push out, slam into the angel, and push her as far away as she could manage. When she could see properly again, she saw that Remiel was sprawled against a tree, branches and leaves around her on the ground.

"What the..." she muttered, glancing down at her hands, which were glowing with a pale shine.

Before she could finish her thought, Remiel was standing and pacing toward her, a spear in her right hand. Her eyes snapped, and Chloe felt those instincts, those weird protective powers, fighting every movement. She hadn't managed to move yet, either in defense or offense, when Lucifer snarled and ran toward Remiel.

She watched the siblings fight for a minute, almost unable to tell where Lucifer was in the whirling cloud of Remiel's wings and flashes of her weapon. "Lucifer!" she screamed. The two broke apart for a moment, Lucifer standing in front of her, his right hand bloodied. She was too close; he could never fight the angel if she were so close. Or—they didn't need to fight at all.

As they ran back toward each other, Chloe called again. "Stop, Lucifer, please! She might be able to help!"

The fight broke apart again just as quickly as it had started. "How could she help, Detective? She's only here to spy on you, on _us_, to take the child away from your arms as soon as it's born. There is nothing else that Remy could do."

Remiel laughed. "You still don't know, do you, Lucifer? You don't know what this woman is, not really, and you certainly don't know what will become of her child. _Your _child."

"_Shut. Up_." Lucifer took a step toward his sister again. Remiel braced herself. Chloe knew, though, that it would only take one good hit for Remiel to win. Lucifer was vulnerable, after all, with her there, and she certainly wasn't going to leave when it was _her _that they were fighting over.

Then, for the first time since Lucifer left for Hell, she let herself feel every emotion she'd been holding in for months. The tingling in her fingers reformed, shape into the white fire she'd seen even with her eyes closed. The light spread all around them, twisting and twirling like vines, emanating from her hands. The light wove between Remiel and Lucifer, pushing them away from each other. They both turned to look at her, Lucifer's eyes following the thread of light even in the contrast of the bright afternoon sun.

"Now. Please tell me. What—is—happening?" she let out between gritted teeth.

Lucifer finally turned his back on Remiel and stepped close enough to touch. "It's okay, Chloe. We're stopping, you're safe and I'm safe, and we're all going to have a chat. You're the first human to channel light like this, and I don't know what's going to happen, but I assume that if you don't let the fire go, you're going to burn up. So let it go, my love." He reached out carefully and took her hand, and the light went out almost as quickly as she'd made it appear.

Remiel watched the light disappear around them, her eyes wide, and then she laughed. "Big Brother's coming, Luci. I guess you're going to make him explain everything?"

"I do have a feeling that there is more that I don't know," Lucifer said as Chloe let herself slump into his arms, even as she vowed that it was the first and last time she was going to show such weakness. Although, she thought as Lucifer hustled her toward the house and begrudgingly followed Remiel inside, it was definitely good she hadn't stayed at the crime scene.

She _definitely_ felt worse than before.

* * *

"What?" she asked. Amenadiel had arrived a few minutes after Remiel said that he was coming—apparently that was Remiel's main superpower aside from the really (_really_) good fighting, sensing Celestials or whatever—and Lucifer had wasted no time in describing the events of the day while bandaging his hand. Amenadiel had then explained a whole bunch of stuff that made very little sense. She held up a finger. "Hold on."

She ran to the bathroom and threw up the remains of her breakfast. Thankfully, Lucifer didn't try to follow her in, although that wasn't exactly unusual. For the most part, he'd left the gross parts of pregnancy to her. She stared at herself in the mirror for a minute before rejoining the angels and devil in her living room.

"So, let me get this straight." She pointed at Amenadiel. "You were sent by God to bless my mom so that she and my dad could have a kid. Then they had me."

"Yes. You're the result of a direct blessing from God."

She pointed at Lucifer. "Doesn't this seem like the kind of thing I should know? How long have you known this?" He stared at the wall without speaking, guilt and tension pouring from him in waves. "You've known it for a really long time. Great."

"What exactly would you have done with the information, Detective? As the child of two people who couldn't have children but miraculously did, even the real explanation would have been the accepted one around here. Miracle from Dad, et cetera, et cetera. There was no point for you to know, especially not when you didn't believe me."

"Until now," Remiel murmured.

"Until now." She hadn't expected to agree so strongly with the angel who'd tried to kill her just an hour or so before. "What does it mean now?"

Remiel laughed. "You have light powers, Chloe Decker. When Linda Martin was expecting Amenadiel's child, she experienced very few symptoms different from a normal human pregnancy, from what I observed while I was on earth. You, however, have begun manifesting powers of a Celestial."

"There is apparently a part of you is a bit more angelic than expected, courtesy of Amenadiel's Dad-dictated blessing, and being pregnant with the Devil's child is only making it more apparent," Lucifer bit out.

Chloe laughed. Honestly, it was only too good. "So now I'm a frickin angel? Wow. That's just great. Am I actually even human?"

"You're completely human," Amenadiel said.

"You sound _completely_ convinced."

"Chloe, there's never been anyone like you!" Lucifer said, bounding up. His eyes were wild, and she was pretty sure she could see fire dancing in the depths of his eyes, and it made her almost want to take a step back, but she stood her ground. "Dad decided that you would be needed on earth, so he sent Amenadiel to bless you into existence! Probably because He knew I was coming back up at some point! Does that sound like anything _normal_? And then you make me vulnerable—"

"That's why you were bleeding so much when we fought earlier," Remiel put in thoughtfully. They all stared at her for a moment. She looked far more bored than interested in the conversation, and Chloe thought it a little unfair. She'd started this whole mess by coming down to earth anyway; they could have been content not knowing that more weird stuff was happening. Her fingers started prickling.

Lucifer rolled his eyes at his sister but turned back to her, reaching for her hands and snuffing out the prickling of light. "You make me vulnerable in a way that no one else has or ever will. Not just the whole if-I-get-pricked-by-a-needle-when-you're-near-I'll bleed kind of vulnerable. There's something about you that makes me want to be with you all of the time and protect you with everything I have and make you happy however possible."

Amenadiel leaned back into the couch, a smile playing around his face. "Brother, that's just love."

"I certainly never felt it before I met her," Lucifer said, eyes meeting hers with a solemnity that felt stronger than any vow. Chloe stared up at him. His eyes were calm again, and she could feel the power she didn't want settling down in her bones. Even the weird wiggling in her stomach (that she'd decided a week ago was the baby) calmed.

She took a long shaking breath before leaning up to loop her arms around his neck and pull him down for a hug. "I love you too," she breathed into his ear.

They stood in silence for a moment, none of them moving. Eventually Remiel interrupted their moment by standing and stretching, every vertebra cracking as she turned. "Father will not be pleased that another half-human Celestial will remain on earth."

Chloe nodded, trying to be okay with possibly facing the wrath of God. Lucifer pressed his hand to her stomach, and his stillness let her know that he'd discovered the slight kicking. It was his turn for a shaking breath. "My child will remain on earth with her family, Remy. She'll see Heaven someday, but not for a long, long time."

Remiel nodded to each of them in turn. Amenadiel shook her hand, and then her wings unfurled, knocking down a small vase from Chloe's mom. As the glass fell to the floor and shattered, Remiel disappeared.

Lucifer turned back to her, staring down at the bump that was her stomach and lightly pressing down all over the place. "That's a horrifying feeling, Detective."

"Try having it inside you. It's like popcorn popping on a never-ending loop."

Amenadiel laughed. "Remy didn't do too much damage, did she? It was much harder to convince her to leave Linda be last time."

"Only to my peace of mind," she said. "This is another reason you brought Lucifer back, didn't you? You thought he'd be able to calm the fireworks that occasionally burst from my hands." She winced. Those were not words that should have _ever _come out of her mouth.

"_If _the fire manifested, which I thought it would from Dan's description of your panic attack in the precinct, I thought he would be good to have around, yes. After all, who better to tame it than the Prince of Darkness... formerly known as the Prince of Light?"

Lucifer scoffed. She saw him swallow back any sort of retort as Amenadiel stepped out the door with far less theatrics than his sister. "He would have to mention those unfortunate nicknames."

"Well, if the shoe fits…" They sat down on the couch, Lucifer's hand awkwardly twisted so that he could still creep on her stomach. "Okay, are you just going to keep touching me for another almost four months? Because I can't handle that."

"If I'm touching you, I can dissipate the light and calm you down better. And yes, it would be my pleasure to keep my hands on you for another few months."

She didn't give him the pleasure of a reply right there. She'd just walked straight into it. She rested her head on his shoulder. "What did we do, Lucifer?"

"Unprotected sex. Several times now, since it really doesn't matter anymore, already knocked you up. No harm anymore."

"Glad you can make jokes like that now, really shows character development. You'd have screamed and run away from that sentence a year or two ago. But aside from that."

"I also returned from Hell recently."

"We all know that." She nestled a little further into Lucifer's side, and he finally abandoned his exploration of her stomach in favor of tugging her closer, which was probably the greatest thing she'd ever felt since he so rarely cuddled. She switched subjects, since he was practicing evasion. "I'm going to have to raise a half-angel baby. Is it going to have wings?"

"Did—_does_—Charlie have wings?"

"No, but—"

"The only difference is in the human DNA. Since you're so God-given special, you're just manifesting powers she could potentially get in the future. Until then, she'll be a normal infant, as awful as the rest of them."

She took a deep breath that Lucifer immediately copied before pulling her fully onto the couch. That was the most clarifying thing she'd heard in hours, probably not since the crime scene. She was going to have to check on that in a while. But she was just so comfortable—not spitting light, not nauseous, finally just enjoying sitting on the couch with her boyfriend (ugh, that sounded wrong and wasn't really true since they hadn't taken the time to talk about it; her Devil, that almost sounded better).

It was almost half an hour before she remembered what she'd noticed over the course of the afternoon's conversations. "You keep saying she."

"What?" Lucifer's half-asleep voice was glorious.

"The baby. You keep calling it a she. _She's_ staying with _her_ family, maybe _she'll_ see heaven someday."

She felt the edge of his smile on her forehead. "Can't disappoint Trixie, love."

* * *

Chloe was awakened that Sunday morning by a knock on the door. It wasn't so much of a knock as it was a banging like the orcs from _Lord of the Rings_ were trying to use a battering ram on the door. Lucifer just growled and pulled the covers up so far that he started to tug them out from under the tucked position at the foot of the bed. She sighed and stood up.

Of the two of them, she was more clothed, anyway. It was probably for the best. And he was pretty cute all cuddled up in the sheets like that.

Ella stormed in almost before she finished opening the door. She grabbed Chloe's arms and stood them in the middle of the room for a lecture. "You're _pregnant_? And it's _Lucifer's baby_? Why didn't I know about this?"

She nodded apologetically. "I didn't tell you because it's still not really that far along, and we weren't telling that many people."

Ella shrugged, letting go of Chloe to cross her arms. "I get that, I really do. But I kind of thought I was a little more than just _people_. You're the closest thing I have to a sister, Chloe, and I thought I was for you too."

_Wow, way to pile on the guilt, Ella_. "I'm so sorry, Ella. I just—I hadn't really been handling Lucifer being gone very well, and then I found out this whole thing—" she motioned toward the stomach that was way more obvious than she realized under her sleep shirt, she was going to give it maybe ten minutes after Lucifer got up to comment on how large she was getting "—and I just couldn't focus on anything aside from Trixie and—"

"Surviving, basically," Ella finished. Chloe nodded. Ella reached forward and touched her stomach. "You're like five months pregnant! How did you keep it hidden so long?"

"Almost six," she muttered. "And I told Trixie and Dan, I wasn't keeping it entirely hidden."

"So _that's _what he's been all secretive about."

"Yeah, probably." She was starting to seriously wonder if something had happened or would happen between Dan and Ella.

Her train of thought was derailed by Lucifer's voice descending the stairs. "If that's Remiel again, Detective, feel free to kick her feathery arse out the door again. Oh, hello, Miss Lopez."

Chloe grinned at Lucifer, who grinned back—both of them understanding just how willing they'd each be to toss Lucifer's sister out—before glancing down at her stomach and turning away, his face paling. She rolled her eyes and turned back to Ella.

"Oh. My. _Gosh_! Are you guys together too? It wasn't just a one night stand or something?"

As quickly as he'd turned away, Lucifer whirled back, this time holding the box of Trixie's cereal. She was going to have to buy double of that one, apparently; figures he'd be almost as sugar-obsessed as the ten-year-old. "Miss Lopez, what do you take me for?"

"Sorry, sorry, I just didn't know what to think! Since I had literally no information until _yesterday_, I didn't know!" She grabbed Chloe's arm and held on like she was a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific. "Are you guys getting _married_?"

She and Lucifer spoke at once. "Oh, no—"

"Think about it, Miss Lopez—"

"That has not been discussed, even a little—"

"The Devil does _not_ do _marriage_—"

"Yeah, no, that's not happening—"

"What, you wouldn't marry me if I asked?" Lucifer asked, offended and with a bowl of cereal in his hands. "You almost married _Cain_. You were engaged to a man cursed by my father to live forever and you wouldn't even consider me?"

She blinked. What a turnaround. Ella looked like they'd become her new favorite soap opera, which she guessed they kind of were now, if they hadn't been from the moment they met. "Well, I'm planning a baby shower," Ella concluded. Lucifer made a gagging sound and turned to fiddle with the coffee maker. If he broke it, he was paying for it.

"Ooh, no, please don't—" Chloe tried. "Linda's probably already thinking about one, and anyway, second kid? Do I really need one for a second kid?"

Ella looked like Chloe was trying to crush her hopes and dreams. "That was your argument before! Chloe, I tried and failed to give you a good bachelorette party—"

"That was failed because the prospective groom was _Pierce_."

"Lucifer, don't ruin this for me. And even if Linda is planning one, which I would be offended that she knew and I didn't except that I know she's your future sister-in-law—"

"I have had sex with my future sister-in-law. That's a point on a BINGO card I was playing a few years ago. No, no, they're not getting married, so she'll never be my sister-in-law. I'll never finish that card, then."

"_Lucifer_! Anyway, if I couldn't give you the best bachelorette party ever, I'm going to make sure you get a baby shower at least. It can be for both of you! We can invite all of your friends instead of just a ladies' party this time!"

Before Chloe could say anything else to convince her to _not_, Ella had grabbed her in a hug (slightly gentler than she expected), run over and given Lucifer a hug so enthusiastic that he almost spilled his cereal on her head, and skipped out of the apartment with a wave.

Chloe leaned against the back of the couch. Lucifer brought her a mug full of coffee that she stared into longingly before handing it back to him. "I can't have coffee, Lucifer."

"Why ever not? I added bourbon too."

"That just makes it even worse."

Lucifer's face only got more confused, so she glanced down at her stomach and he groaned. "Just have to ruin everything, don't you," he said, flouncing back to the kitchen. A minute later he appeared next to her again, bowl of cereal in hand. It was Trixie's sugary kind, but she didn't pause before taking a spoonful.

"If we have the baby shower, we will get all sorts of presents," she mused, resting her hand on his forearm instead of taking the cereal. "That'll be good, since we won't have to go buy stuff. And you'll get to talk about yourself for a very long time."

"That's always fun, talking about me," he agreed.

"Baby shower?" Trixie shrieked from her bedroom door.

Lucifer jumped slightly, expression shifting from slightly lecherous to nearly beaten-down. "Hello, spawn." He glanced down at her like she was a leech on his clothing as usual, but a leech that he was growing incredibly fond of. Chloe was proud again—maybe someday he'd learn to let emotions out in a healthy way.

"Are you having a baby shower? I think there should be a baby shower."

"I think Ella and Linda are going to have one for us, monkey."

Trixie came back from the kitchen, bowl of cereal in hand. She'd poured the milk so high that Chloe was almost sure she was going to give the couch a bath in it, so she stood up just before Trixie got to her and ushered the three of them to the table. "Can I finally buy stuff for the baby?"

Lucifer sighed. "As long as I take you shopping, child. If Dan takes you to the stores, the infant will look like it was dressed in the dark, if it's lucky."

Chloe glanced back and forth between Devil and daughter. Trixie looked like she was going to boil over with sheer joy, and Lucifer looked—almost excited. Wow. Character development indeed. "Wait until if we find out if it's actually a girl or not, Trixie. Imagine if we have to dress your brother all in pink."

Trixie and Lucifer scoffed in unison. "It's definitely a girl, Mommy. And she's going to get all sorts of colors, not just pink."

"Disappointed that you would think otherwise, Chloe. It's obviously a girl."

Chloe sighed. Trixie cheered. Lucifer just looked smug.

* * *

It's a girl.

Naturally.

She was lying on the chair-gurney-thing (was there a proper name for it? Examination table didn't seem right), with the cold gel sticking to her stomach and the wand pressing down just enough to be uncomfortable. "Ah, here's the baby!" the ultrasound tech cooed as the whooshing sound of the heartbeat filled the room.

Lucifer peered into the tech's personal space. "No horns or wings still, right?" Fortunately, this was the same ultrasound tech as last time, and she'd somehow gotten used to Lucifer in the one visit he'd been to.

"No, sir, no wings or horns. Head and spinal cord are doing great without any extra appendages."

Lucifer breathed out through his nose (he had apparently forgotten all of his own assurances that the baby would _not _have wings) and settled in the chair next to Chloe. She reached her hand out and he took it, neither of them really looking at each other in favor of the screen with the greyish blobs. "Can you see anything?" she whispered. "I thought I'd be able to recognize something by now."

"I think I see a leg, or maybe it's a—"

The ultrasound tech interrupted. "I've got all the measurements I need, and your baby looks great! Growing perfectly within all the parameters we like to see, and heartbeat is perfect. I also…" She paused for a weirdly long amount of time. Chloe raised an eyebrow and tried not to wriggle too much. Lucifer was still turning his head to try to make sense of the image. "I did make a note of the baby's gender, if you'd like to find out today!"

She glanced at Lucifer, who nodded impatiently, almost rolling his eyes with a _you would actually believe that I wouldn't want to go ahead and get this over with? _feeling. She met the tech's smile with a grin. "Yes, please, he and my daughter want to go shopping as soon as possible."

The tech laughed. "It's a girl! Another one, I guess. Congratulations, you guys!"

She grinned up at Lucifer, who had the courtesy to look down at her with eyes that she could have almost called misty and kiss her forehead. She felt similar tears welling up in her own eyes at his touch.

"Don't know why we even bothered asking, Detective, it was obviously a girl," he muttered.

"You just didn't want to disappoint Trixie."

"It is not my fault that clothes for infant girls are so much better than for boys. Better colors, more styles, more fabric choices—"

"You were not exaggerating when you said he wanted to go shopping!" the ultrasound tech interrupted as she held out an envelope of printed ultrasound images. "What a man, my dear, hold onto him. And you, you lucky boy. Don't ever let this one go."

Lucifer scoffed self-deprecatingly as he took the envelope and handed it to her. "She couldn't get rid of me no matter how hard she tried. I'm around for good." She tried to figure out if that was some roundabout reference to Devil-hood (it probably was. Most of the things he said were, in some way or another) as she tugged a picture out of the envelope.

Up close, it was almost easy to make out what she was looking at. Once they were back in the car, her stomach wiped off but still feeling weird, she held one of the pictures out for Lucifer. "You can almost see her face really well in this one."

Lucifer just stared at the building, knuckles white on the steering wheel.

"You okay?"

He turned to look at her. The very edges of his eyes were red. "I—Chloe, I just—"

She reached up and cupped his cheek in her hand and he leaned into the touch. "You know I'm not leaving you, right? I'm in this for as long as you are, and not just because of the baby. Loved you before that."

He smiled, his mouth curving up just slightly but his eyes full of a light that she hadn't seen in anyone else. She thought it was maybe a different sort of love, a different kind of life.

Without looking at the picture, Lucifer reached forward and kissed her. "I love you too, Detective," he murmured when he pulled away and they got their breaths back. Then he grabbed the picture she was still holding onto. "Looks like an alien." His words were fairly Lucifer-like, but the tone was almost reverent. She laughed and leaned over to kiss him again.

He tucked the picture into his jacket pocket, and he drove them home with her hand still in his.

* * *

They were in the car on the way to a suspect's home address a week later when Chloe remembered something that she almost instantly wished she hadn't. "I have to tell my mom."

"What do you have to tell your mom?" Lucifer asked absently, poking at his phone. She was pretty sure he was playing Kim Kardashian's Hollywood game, judging by the voices. He was going to have to mute that thing.

She sighed, turning the car into the parking lot. He glanced up as if surprised they'd gotten there so fast despite the fact that traffic had turned the fifteen minute drive into forty-five. "I have to tell my mom that you're the father."

"Why?" he asked, ducking behind the car door when they heard gunfire from the house. She felt her fingers prickle in anticipation. "Do you have the Kevlar on?"

She pulled enough of her shirt aside to show that she was wearing the vest despite protests. He had been loud enough that Dan had gotten involved, and together they'd convinced her to wear it. "I have to tell her because the alternative is her still probably thinking that Dan's the father."

"_What_?"

He was interrupted from a righteous tirade by her traditional "LAPD, put the gun down!"

"Stay here," Lucifer said, "that's far enough away—"

She motioned him forward. No time like the present to really test the distance he had to be from her to be invincible again. She waited a nail-bitingly long amount of time, heard six more shots and a scream, and loosened the Kevlar before Lucifer emerged from the house, draggin the man by the back of the neck. "What did you do to him?" she sighed, helping him into the back of her car.

He leaned against the side of the car, grinning. "What do you think?" She shook her head, poking the bullet hole in his shirt, but kissed him quickly anyway—it wasn't like the crying perp was interested in whether the detective and civilian slash Devil consultant were together, anyway.

"What did you mean, by the way, that your mother thinks that Daniel is the father of your child?" he asked as casual as a Devil could be.

"I told her it was a one-night stand—"

"Not entirely wrong." He smirked and she groaned. The man in the back of the car was almost pressed against his seat, and he whimpered.

"That's what I thought. And it was easier than saying it was you but _oh by the way he's gone now and I can't contact him_. But then she got stuck on it being Dan instead of some jerk I met in a nightclub. I'm not positive I convinced her otherwise, even though Dan insisted it wasn't his too, and since you're back now she should probably know the truth." That had been a fun conversation, telling Dan that her mom thought they were back together. By which she meant _incredibly embarrassing for both of them_.

"Indeed she should. I'll call her now."

"What? No, don't call her now—"

"Penelope, darling! How _are_ you?"

"_How_ did you call so fast—Mom!"

"Chloe? And Lucifer? I thought you had gone back to England!"

"You could say that," he said, glancing at her with an eyebrow raised. She nodded a _go along with it_. Apparently Dan had passed along her explanation for Lucifer's absence even though she hadn't mentioned that he was gone, let alone back to England. "Anyway, your daughter has some news for you that we wanted to share!"

"What is it, Chloe?"

She sighed slowly. She glanced back at the perp, who was not looking even slightly okay with his circumstances. "So I'm pregnant—"

"Yes, dear, I remember that, of course," Penelope said, just shy of an excited shriek.

"The baby is... Lucifer's."

The man in the backseat gasped. "The baby is—what—how—but he's—" Lucifer turned around and glared at him, red eyes glowing. The man shut up. Chloe really felt pretty bad for him. Not every day that you get caught by the police for a rather serious amount of shoplifting (and a few guns that were definitely not legally-owned) and then find out that a popular nightclub owner is probably the Devil. And then this conversation on top of all that. Yikes.

"The baby is Lucifer's?" Penelope squealed through the phone.

"Yes, darling, the spawn is mine," Lucifer soothed. If her mom had been there in person, Chloe had a feeling that Lucifer would be accepting her hug. "Ruins my track record, of course, but nothing I could do about it. Your daughter—"

"And that's enough of that. We just wanted to let you know, Mom—"

"But _why _wouldn't you tell me that it was Lucifer's baby when I asked?" her mom wailed. "Imagine how beautiful that baby's going to be!"

Lucifer cocked his head, probably considering that for the first time. "You've made a good point, Penelope. My angelic genes, as I suppose we must call them, with Chloe's, it will be a pretty child."

Chloe rolled her eyes, wishing that she could just push all of the cars in the traffic jam out of the way. The guy in the back was getting even more uncomfortable, and he was really going to need a psych eval. All she could hope was that he was actually guilty and wouldn't be immediately released to tell the world about what he'd heard.

Ten minutes later they were back at the station, Chloe having zoned out the rest of her mom's conversation with Lucifer in favor of semi-reckless driving. She hadn't even realized that Lucifer had her mom's number, honestly. She zoned back in just in time to hear her mom ask, "Lucifer, when are you two getting married? No time like the present! The baby needs a stable family!"

Lucifer choked and Chloe coughed violently. "No, no, no, Penelope, the Devil does not get married."

"Mom, we don't have to get married for the baby to have a _stable family_." She jumped out of the car and helped the man out of the backseat, handing him off to the eager and waiting junior detective to be tagged and booked. She grabbed Lucifer's phone away from him. "Just wanted to let you know about Lucifer, see you at Trixie's birthday party, love you, talk to you later!" She hung up and handed the phone back.

"Why are so many people mentioning marriage?" he asked as they stepped down the stairs and Chloe stripped off her Kevlar.

"My mom makes exactly two people, Lucifer."

"Linda asked me at therapy on Monday. _Three _people, Detective."

"You're not supposed to tell me what happens at therapy." They'd had a full argument about Lucifer's conclusions about how to "fix" Chloe after therapy a few weeks ago, and Linda had declared that they would keep therapy confidential except for if she told Lucifer to tell Chloe something, which was working fairly well. "And Linda and Amenadiel aren't even married, she can't talk. I'm pretty sure they aren't even dating anymore."

"She apparently will and definitely did, Detective." He dragged a chair over to sit next to her at her desk, and the screeching sound was both grating and comforting, the reminder that he was back and just as annoying as ever a comfort.

She started filling out the paperwork. For the blank of Officer Injuries she wrote _none _but reached over to button Lucifer's jacket to cover up the bullet hole. He glanced down and shrugged. "I'll get a new shirt when the spawn and I go shopping tomorrow."

"You do know that you can't just go running into a suspect's house and assume that I'm far enough away, right?"

"You need to stay away from danger anyway," he muttered, taking her hand. "I can't protect you if you're running into active shooting zones."

She squeezed his fingers. "You can't either. There's no guarantee that you'll be safe, and like I said. If you're going to be here, you have to _be here_. That means…"

"Not dead." He nodded, glancing down at her stomach for a second. "Dying is not difficult to avoid, since I am stronger and faster and just better than humans, but I'll do my best, Chloe. For you."

She smiled and was just about to lean forward and kiss him, damn her distaste of PDA at work, when Dan interrupted. "Were you two talking about marriage when you came in?"

They ended that line of inquiry (and probably didn't get the idea out of Dan's mind) by assuring him that it wasn't going to happen, grabbing up the closest case file, and jogging out of the station as quickly as possible. Just as she was about to get into the car, Lucifer crowded her against the door and kissed her. From inside the building, she heard half of the precinct cheer.

Chloe sighed and Lucifer grinned. "Oops."


	5. Chapter 5

A few weeks later on a Friday afternoon after spending the day mostly doing paperwork (and corralling a bored Lucifer) since Dan was being annoying and taking over most of the active work before she could raise a hand to volunteer, Chloe came home from work to the sight of boxes everywhere. She stopped short in the doorframe and just stared at it for a second. Lucifer, not looking where he was going as per usual, ran into her.

"What?" he asked, half concerned and half peeved. She tilted her head so that he could see into the apartment. "Oh. That's still no excuse for stopping like that. I'm sure Maze is just…" They took a few steps into the house and surveyed the evidence.

"I'm moving out," Maze announced.

"You still live here?" Lucifer asked idly. He picked up a knife and ran his finger over the blade and was bleeding before Chloe could do anything other than open her mouth to tell him to be careful.

Maze rolled her eyes, Chloe slapped at Lucifer's forearm, and Lucifer pouted and stuck his finger in his mouth. "You don't have to move out, Maze, we still have room—"

The demon laughed. "There may be room for now, for a few more months, but are you going to keep the baby in your room for its entire life? Or move it in with Trixie? Think about it, Chloe."

She thought about it, and she agreed that they were completely out of space. Lucifer moving in hadn't changed too much aside from her closet and the general attitude of the place, but the baby added to three adults and a child would be next to impossible. "She makes a good point, Detective," Lucifer added.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Linda's, for now. She said that Charlie's sleeping schedule is so thrown off by teething that Amenadiel's sleeping on Charlie's floor most nights, or all three of them are in Linda's room." Maze smirked at that for a moment and continued. "So they have a room for me for at least a month or two, until the kid gets over it."

She almost corrected her; Charlie was not going to _get over it_ for way longer than a month, but that worked out for all of them, really, except Amenadiel's back if he was actually sleeping on the floor. "Trixie and I'll miss you so much, Maze."

Maze and Lucifer both glanced at her in confusion. "I'll still be over here all the time to watch Trix and patrol for any demons," Maze said slowly. "Just getting out of the way of the family bliss. It's nauseating."

She was getting teary. That was not the intention. She grabbed a box (which was incredibly light, what was Maze keeping?) and stepped toward her car. "Just—things changing and all that. I'll only have to buy two kinds of cereal. That's good for my budgeting. Did you want to go ahead and get this in the car? I'll do that." And she left the confused devil and demon behind.

They had the boxes packed in Chloe's car in an hour (Maze really did not like to have a lot of stuff around, did she?) and set down in Linda and Amenadiel's guest room in another two hours. Chloe sent Lucifer back home to get Trixie—Dan was on a stake-out all night, so they got to keep her for the weekend—and they had a movie night.

"Why did you say I couldn't come to these when you started coming to them, Mommy?" Trixie asked.

"What sort of sordid things were going on in my absence that the spawn couldn't come, indeed?"

Linda leaned down toward Trixie. "Your mom decided that it would be best if you got to hang out with your dad instead. And that's always fun!"

Trixie shrugged. "But Maze and Charlie are here and Daddy's around all the time and I don't get to see Charlie as much as I see Daddy."

"Dan will be _so_ happy to hear that, I can't wait to tell him on Monday—"

"Don't you dare," Chloe cut in. "And Trix, sometimes I just needed a little time to hang out with friends. And we wanted to watch movies that you maybe weren't allowed to watch."

Trixie pouted and Lucifer laughed, taking a sip of his bourbon. "I'm almost _eleven_."

Amenadiel chose that moment to change the subject. "Are you excited about your sister, Trixie?" Chloe blessed the angel as Trixie started in on how excited she was for the baby and what kinds of names she had thought of—that was a rabbit hole she'd decided not to bring up until the baby was literally in her arms and that Lucifer agreed with because he claimed to not care so therefore cared too much—and what color she wanted Dan and Lucifer to paint the previously-Maze's-room-apparently-now-the-baby's-room in the next week or two.

"How are you doing?" Linda asked, sitting down with a giggling Charlie.

Chloe exhaled slowly as Maze loudly suggested that the baby's room be gray and bright red, like Hell. Trixie countered with light pink, like happiness. "I'm doing okay. Tired all the time now but it's no different than with Trix, and the weird" she lowered her tone as much as physically possible and Linda leaned in to listen "light powers haven't shown up since Remiel left."

Linda nodded. "Amenadiel said the powers were probably more for protection than anything else, so since you've been safe with your guardian devil lately you've been fine there." Charlie hiccupped and she cooed at him for a second. "To be the typical therapist and friend though, how are you doing emotionally?"

Lucifer winked at her from across the room and she grinned. "I'm really okay, Linda. It's been the strangest adjustment, but… I'm okay. We're great, actually." She turned back to Linda, who was nearly tearing up. "Are _you_ okay?"

"I'm just so happy for you two," she sniffled. Charlie turned to look up at her with concern, staring at his mom in a Lucifer-like aversion to emotion. "You both needed someone so much, and I'm just so glad it could be each other." Chloe smiled as Amenadiel suggested a really light green and Trixie almost agreed. It was the strangest little family, but that's what it was. "Now that we have the emotions talk out of the way, come see what movie would be best for keeping Lucifer occupied but also be appropriate for Trixie," Linda commanded.

One _The Princess Bride _viewing later (Lucifer had never seen it before, and Trixie had only seen it twice, so obviously that needed to be fixed. The first time Lucifer tried to snark at the movie, which was about three minutes in at _fetch me that pitcher?_, she slapped his knee and he stopped. By the time they got to the as-you-wish rolling-down-the-hill scene, he was hooked enough that he didn't notice that Trixie was snuggled up between them) she was waking up on Lucifer's shoulder.

Trixie was asleep on top of Lucifer, her head resting on his chest in a way that made her look so much younger than her eleven-minus-two-weeks years. Lucifer's arm was wrapped tightly around Trixie, keeping her in place, and his hand was awkwardly pressed against Chloe's stomach. He was as soundly asleep as Trixie and doing that weird almost-snoring thing he did when he was completely exhausted. She was pretty sure it was the most domestic scene she'd been in since she and Dan separated. She closed her eyes again just before she heard Linda's soft "aww" from the other end of the couch.

"I'd never have believed it of him," Amenadiel whispered. "He's got a family. And all three of them fell asleep."

"He's grown up so much," Linda whispered back.

"No longer the Devil he wanted to be, but he's far happier than he could have ever thought."

"I bet he would stay asleep even if I wrote something on his forehead. Quick, Linda, get a marker."

"_Maze_," the parents said in unison. Charlie giggled.

* * *

"You were the one who agreed to the baby shower, Detective! And now _you're_ the one who's going to have to store all of this stuff."

She had to admit that it was a bit excessive. Her living room was filled to near-capacity with bassinets and strollers and blankets and gift bags of onesies and dresses and some huge box from her mom that she was almost scared to open. "It'll fit, don't worry."

"I'm not worrying about anything, I'm just stating the facts."

Linda and Ella had held the baby shower the morning before. They'd had it in the penthouse at Lux, because the sheer amount of people they decided to invite was astronomical and could never have fit in Chloe's or Linda's living rooms or even if they pushed them both together somehow. Chloe was fairly sure that even though she hadn't talked to many of the people invited in ages except for the ones who had been at Trixie's birthday party two weeks before (if at all, she thought that a few of them were Linda's patients) they'd gotten a gift from each of them.

Chloe plopped down on the couch at the thought of all the thank-you cards she was going to have to write. Another reason why she shouldn't have had a baby shower, even though it was nice that she wasn't going to have to buy anything even if she and Lucifer broke up—they seemed to have duplicates of almost everything. "Are you okay?" Lucifer called from the car seat he was poking at.

"Lucifer, I'm thirty-one weeks pregnant. I'm exhausted and my feet hurt and I'm the size of a bus." At the moment she definitely regretted agreeing to the baby shower at all, and she also regretted having just tossed everything into the living room after making Trixie agree to not touch anything and just leaving it for the next day. The next day had come, and it was overwhelming. Trixie probably would have been helpful, too.

"Don't I know it," he said glibly, apparently content to insult again since he knew she was mostly fine and just restating old complaints she'd had over the past almost four months.

"I will shoot you, you know. And I'll have no problem with doing it."

Lucifer stood up and hopped over the bags to stand next to the couch, offense painted all over his face. "That's really rude, Detective."

She raised an eyebrow and he sat down on the couch next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. They sat in silence for a moment, Lucifer probably contemplating getting her gun away from her—she only had another week at work before maternity leave and they both got to sit at home all day with nothing to do but annoy each other, so it would probably work—and her thinking about everything and nothing.

"Do you ever wonder what we're even doing?" she asked.

Lucifer scoffed. "I wonder that every day, Chloe. I'm the Devil, for crying out loud. I'm not supposed to be impregnating women—_woman_—and then be painting rooms with ex-husbands and just being domestic. Which, speaking of, are you sure that your offspring was thinking when she chose that color?"

"The light purple's fine, Lucifer, you liked it when Trix found the paint swatch. But yeah… I'm having a baby with the actual _literal_ Devil. The only time this happens is in comics or science fiction or—"

"Erotica fanfiction."

She rolled her eyes. "Can't forget about that. I'm still kind of scared, Lucifer. Like what if the baby still has the weird light powers? How do we even handle that? And I know that you killed all the demons who heard my stupid message, but how do you know for sure that you killed _all of them_? And what happens if any of them get out of Hell?"

Lucifer took her chin between his thumb and second finger and turned her toward him. "Chloe, stop worrying."

She shook her head as a tears formed in the corner of her eye. She took his other hand and pressed it to the slight bulge on the side of her stomach where the baby's head was pushing just enough to make an obvious dent. "I can't stop worrying, Lucifer. It's my _daughter_. Our daughter. Trixie's been in enough danger as it is, and she's completely human. This one—she's not. But even if she was one hundred percent human, she's mine and I'm going to worry."

He stared at his hand like below it were the secrets to the universe, and in those seconds she realized that he was just as afraid as she was, if not more so. There was always the chance that demons would make their way up to earth; that was always a possibility. No one knew what would happen with the light powers; this was literally the second half-human-half-angel baby ever. Lucifer dragged his eyes up to meet hers, and his eyes were full of tears too. He leaned forward and kissed her lightly. "I don't know what will happen, Detective. But know this. I came back to earth to protect both of you, all three of you, and there's nothing that will ever stand in the way of me doing that."

"I know," she whispered.

"I've killed for you before, and I'll do it again. I'll do whatever needs doing, whatever it takes to keep you safe."

She saw the seriousness in his eyes and had to make a joke before it became too serious. It wasn't easy, having someone with you who was so devoted to protecting you that he'd dismember someone before anything else. "Don't tell me if you're planning on killing someone, though. I don't want to have to arrest you."

"Well, if you use the handcuffs right—"

The possible moment was interrupted, as they almost always seemed to be, by Dan. He burst into the house, almost tripped on a stack of blankets, and stood panting behind the couch. They didn't move any more than it took to turn and look at him.

"What is it, Detective Douche? We were just about to—"

"What is it, Dan?" she interrupted before the fragile peace between them was shattered by descriptions of graphic images.

"There's been an explosion—couple of bodies. No one's sure what happened. You need to come—_now_."

* * *

Dan drove them back to the scene after she and Lucifer had a short argument about whether she should go at all ("Detective—" "Don't you dare say I should stay at home." "...Okay." Her glare was more effective than his begging).

"What happened, Dan?"

"No one's sure yet. As far as anyone can tell, there was just an explosion in an office building."

Lucifer leaned forward to stick his head between theirs in the front seats. "So why is Chloe needed in particular?"

"They're calling everyone on board. There were a lot of witnesses, and there's a lot of bodies. So they want to go ahead and keep everyone in the loop to find out if—"

"One of the victims caused the explosion or if they were the intended target and everyone else was collateral damage," Chloe finished. The baby kicked, and for the first time in almost two months—since Lucifer tested the distance of his invulnerability like an idiot—her fingers tingled. She felt the light struggling to break out of her and she took a few deep breaths.

"Calm down, Detective," Lucifer murmured. He reached up and placed his hand on her shoulder, and the energy started calmly leaching out of her, leaving adrenaline alone to fuel her panic. She exhaled shakily and tried to think about anything else other than whatever they were about to walk into.

"Are you okay?" Dan asked as they pulled into the parking lot of a smoking office building. It had clearly once been about five stories high, but now it was a steaming pile of rubble, surrounded by fire trucks and ambulances and LAPD cars.

"I'm fine," she muttered. She could see blood in the rubble already, even from a hundred feet from the tape surrounding the explosion.

Before Dan got the car parked, Lucifer was standing next to the passenger door, opening it and helping her struggle out before she could move a muscle. The smell of smoke and death hit her as she moved toward the office building arm-in-arm with Lucifer, and even his hand on hers didn't stop the panic in her bones. _Have to protect the baby, can't stay, have to_—

"Chloe! You didn't have to come, your leave starts in, what, a week? We've got this handled," Ella almost chirped. The ash smeared on her face and blood on her gloves did not support that statement.

"No, it's fine," Chloe managed. News flash: it wasn't fine.

She and Lucifer wandered through the rubble, taking statements from firefighters and witnesses as they traveled the tape line. As far as she could tell, it was a completely random explosion. Just a normal day at the office, none of the neighbors knew of anything weird that was going on in that particular building, they certainly didn't know about any secret lives of employees that would lead to them getting blown up.

"So we've got nothing," she muttered to Lucifer as they maneuvered over what looked like a destroyed desk.

"Yes, looks like it, let's go home now, shall we? There's no need for you to be here, there was never any need for you to be here—"

"We did find out that there was a big merger being planned—"

"Certainly no cause for an explosion like that, though," Dan said, agreeing with Lucifer, who was starting to look like a nodding bobble head.

"COD for most of these vics looks like just explosion," Ella inserted. "I haven't seen any gunshot wounds, no stranglings, nothing that would suggest anyone was targeted in particular. Bomb squad is doing their thing and looking for the center of the explosion. So I agree with Lucifer, Chlo, you should just go home and get some rest."

She sighed as loudly as she physically could before pulling her arm out of Lucifer's grasp and heading for Dan's car. "I'll get a ride with Ella, you take my car home," she heard Dan say to Lucifer before she was out of earshot. "Make her get some rest. I'm sorry for bringing you out here."

She didn't hear Lucifer's reply, just a mumbling that showed she was far enough away that her point—do not coddle Chloe Decker and just let her _do her job_—was hopefully made. Then Lucifer's voice disappeared in a faint ringing in her ears, which grew louder as she walked through the rubble.

She looked up when she heard a laugh and yanked her gun out at the first few words. "You're Chloe, aren't you?"

The voices came from the shadow of the remains of the first story of the building, just out of sight from Dan and Ella and Lucifer. She couldn't quite see the voice, but she answered anyway. "Yeah, I'm Chloe. Who are you?"

The voice scoffed. "So you're the one that Lucifer has chosen to procreate with. I never heard your name last time I was here, so I didn't manage to connect the dots."

"What?" Shapes were moving toward the edge of the light but she still couldn't quite see the outline of a person yet. The rushing of light in her veins was terrifying, and the baby was completely still, as if waiting. "What do you mean, last time you were here?"

Finally they stepped into the light. The person was bloodied from head to toe, missing an arm and a chunk out of his face, old blood soaked through his shirt where a bullet may have hit his heart. There was no way that he should have been alive, let alone breathing and talking. "Surely you remember, Detective?" Five more bodies—for they could hardly be called more than that—moved out of the shadows.

"Demons. You're demons. You're—"

Her hands shook and she dropped her gun. Her left hand pressed to her stomach, the only thing she could really do to protect herself.

"You sent a clever message down, Chloe. He—" The demon's vision shifted behind her and his eyes showed the first shred of emotion so far. Just a hint of fear. "You thought you killed everyone who'd heard it. But you—"

"I was clearly wrong." She turned her head just enough to see Lucifer's face behind her, red eyes glowing. She saw in his stance that he was about to pounce toward the demons and attack, but every instinct screamed _No_! "Such a pity, Dromos. However did you survive? I thought I pulverized you when I returned to Hell a few months ago. I was very creative, tried to think like Maze."

"And it was very effective, until I played dead. You stopped. That's the problem with you, Lucifer, you've grown soft. You weren't willing to finish the job." He motioned toward Chloe, the mangled end of his hand dangling. The other demons took a few steps closer, fanning out in a semicircle. "She's made you _weak_. But, you see, there's been one good thing about this whole mess. We may have failed with little Charlie, but we won't fail with this one."

Her mind raced. Dan and Ella were still too close, she had to keep them safe too, she had to stop Lucifer from revealing himself in broad daylight, she had to stop the demons but she couldn't—she had to—she had to keep her baby safe.

The demon added another sentence that sealed his fate. "It looks like she's done growing, anyway. Nothing to stop us from taking the child now."

Lucifer growled, an unearthly sound, and she knew that he was about to attack. But she was faster. Just like with Remiel, she didn't have to think anymore—she just reacted. Her palm faced toward the demons, she let the light free. It raced toward the enemies, the five of them taking a single step back. Just before the light hit them—and it would have destroyed them, she felt it suddenly, the light within her wasn't a calm, happy sort of fire, it was an avenging inferno—the bodies fell to the ground.

She stared at the bodies as Lucifer took a few steps past her to stare down at the carnage. "What happened?"

Lucifer turned back to her with grim eyes. "They've returned to Hell." He returned to her side, clasped her burning hands in his, and pulled her as close as possible. "It's okay."

"Is it really?" she asked, feeling herself teetering on the brink of hysteria even though Lucifer was there to attempt to calm her. "I don't think it is!" She leaned down as well as she could and managed to pick up her gun. Before she could take another step toward the car, Lucifer picked her up. "Lucifer, I can _walk_—"

"Let me carry you, Chloe," he muttered. It was only a dozen more steps to Dan's car, and Lucifer had it unlocked, the passenger door open, and her settled inside before she even knew that she was standing on the ground.

Her heart rate was going crazy and she couldn't focus and the light in her blood was still going berserk. Lucifer drove home as quickly as he could, breaking the speed limit more often than she could count. She heard his call to Maze in a fog, his explanation of the situation and a command for Maze to guard them barely registering. A cramp ran across her stomach and she pressed her hand to it, willing it to _stop_.

Lucifer got her out of the car and into the house so quickly that she didn't realize she was staring at her sparkling hands on the couch instead of in the car until Lucifer was kneeling before her. "Are you okay?"

"What do you think?" she asked, wiping away tears as quickly as she could.

He rested his forehead on her knee, the edge of his head pressing into her stomach. "They still know. I killed so many of them to keep your secret, and I still failed."

"That isn't your fault, Lucifer, I was the one who—"

"If I can't protect you down in Hell, why did I even bother going in the first place? I might as well have stayed here and watched over you and the spawn from here."

She ran her shaking fingers through his hair and the light finally disappeared, taking away most of her panic along with the lightshow. It was fine, it was perfectly fine. Lucifer hadn't Devil-ed out in front of everyone, no one had seen her explode light at dead people, and they were alive. They were at home, and she definitely wasn't in labor. "Are you going back?"

"No." His response was resolute, still pressed into her thigh but perfectly intelligible. "I'm not returning until I have no choice but to do so. I'm staying with you and the children. Dromos and his lackeys were just checking up on your progress, so to speak. I don't believe that they would dare hurt you before the child is born, certainly not while I was right behind you. But you didn't even need me."

"You mean with the light? I'm really looking forward to going back to having a gun instead of light powers."

"I as well. You're only human, and sooner or later it may burn you up from the inside out." With that encouraging comment, he finally sat up properly, kissed her as desperately as he had when he was about to fly of his balcony to Hell. She gave as good as she got, and he muttered something unintelligible into her mouth. When she pulled away to ask what he'd said, he derailed her train of thought by producing her gun, and she set it to safety and laid it down on the side table.

He laid his hand on her stomach just as another contraction ran across it. He jumped away an entire step. "The hell?"

"Fake contractions. Braxton-Hicks. I hope."

"It's still another nine weeks," he muttered, sitting down next to her and tugging her as close as he physically could. Was that just how their lives were always going to be? They were just going to hold onto each other as tightly as possible until they forgot that she'd almost died. She felt the tears trickle down her cheeks, soaking into Lucifer's shirt. "Better be bloody Braxton-Hicks."

* * *

It was _bloody Braxton-Hicks _for another month.

Maternity leave began the afternoon of the explosion because the captain refused to let her sit down the next morning when she arrived for work. She exchanged one look with Lucifer before Chloe found herself ushered straight out of the precinct amid cheers of "can't wait to meet the baby!" and "get some rest, Decker, you deserve it!" and "call me when the baby's coming and I'll come for Trixie!"

So she'd had a full month of just enjoying the fact that she was alive (and ignoring the fact that demons had broken through Lucifer's wall to Hell and actually managed to confront her and basically proved all their fears correct and caused nightmares that she was fairly sure she would have until her dying day), relishing in Lucifer being even more protective than usual (she went through phases of hating it and loving it. Right now, she loved it), and cuddling with Trixie and making one-hundred percent positive that Trixie was excited (she really was). She and Lucifer and Trixie were playing Monopoly and enjoying a Friday night where they were just a tiny little family when—it wasn't Braxton-Hicks anymore.

It only took grabbing his hand _hard _and him glancing at her face in offense before Lucifer yelped, cursed in a few languages, and ran upstairs. "Are you sure the baby's coming?" Trixie shrieked.

"It may have been eleven years since I had a baby, but I'm pretty sure I remember the feeling," she managed. It frickin' hurt, and she'd actually mostly forgotten it. Showed that the baby was better than all of this hurt.

"Does it hurt that much?"

She glanced at Trixie's eyes, which were wide with concern. "It doesn't feel nice, Monkey, but it just means that your sister's coming, so it'll be just fine." She heard a crash from upstairs. "Can you go help Lucifer get my bag together while I tell your dad to come over?"

Trixie ran upstairs as fast as she could and the half-panicked shouting of child and Devil filled the house. She texted Dan a simple _Baby's coming, come over now_ before adding a slightly longer _Baby's coming! Lucifer's already a joy and we haven't even left the house yet. I'll have him tell you when she gets here! _to the Lucifer Survival group chat.

Dan's response was stereotypically fast and excited, and Linda's exclamation marks were basically uncountable. By the time she counted them (fifty-two), she'd also decided that contractions were close enough together that Lucifer should probably be driving them to the hospital immediately. Apparently, the baby wanted _out_.

As if she'd summoned him by thought, a wild-eyed Lucifer appeared with hospital bag in one hand and Trixie's hand in the other. "Ready, Detective?"

She gave him an overly cheerful smile as another contraction made its appearance. "Your dad's on the way, Monkey. Can you stay here and wait for him?" Trixie nodded frantically and pulled Lucifer with her to give her another hug. Her last hug as an only child, Chloe supposed, and that made her tear up on the walk to the car.

"Are you okay?" Lucifer asked as he tore through LA. "Wait, don't answer that, I know the answer. But are you okay? I'm driving as fast as I can—ooh, whoops."

She was pretty sure he hadn't actually hit the old lady, but just then she didn't have the time to make sure. "Well, I've been better."

Three hours later, it was significantly worse in Chloe World. She'd screamed at Lucifer so much during a particularly bad contraction that he actually looked hurt, and there was a genuine possibility she'd broken his hand. The doctor mostly just looked peeved as he announced that she was at eight centimeters and he'd be back in a minute.

"I'm sorry," she muttered as he wrung out his hand, wincing.

"No need to apologize, Detective. After all, I am the one who did this to you, and I accept that sex will be completely protected from now on if you allow me back in your bed." He leaned back against the edge of the bed, apparently willing to risk the bodily harm again. His eyes were red-rimmed and glittering with something Chloe was pretty sure was excitement.

She shifted on the bed and breathed through her teeth. He took her hand again, broken or not, and that was it. "I love you so much," she said. "You know that, right? You didn't have to come back, you probably shouldn't have, and you still did. No one else has been willing to do that for me."

Lucifer grinned. "Don't you know by now, Chloe? I love you too." He pulled his hand from her grasp just for a moment to rub circles on her stomach. "And I'm not good at showing it or saying it, but I love this creature too, more than I could ever say."

"I know," she murmured. "I've never seen anyone love like you do." Wahoo, another contraction just in the midst of emotional talk. A nurse glanced at the monitor and hummed. She held onto Lucifer's other hand through it, and once the pain stopped she remembered something incredibly important. "We never figured out a name."

Lucifer looked startled and then laughed, a few tears running down his cheeks, set free by the unexpected action. "I never even thought about it. I was too focused on everything else."

"By which you mean… what? You haven't really done much except fawn on me."

"Exactly what I was doing. I hope you've got some idea though, or it's just going to be Infant or Spawn forever. Even I'm not so cruel as to name her Lucifer Junior."

She breathed out a laugh as he ran his fingers through her hair. "I was thinking—don't hate me for this."

"Just spit it out, Chloe. We don't have all day and I obviously don't care as much as Amenadiel did. He suggested the most ridiculous—_ow_."

She crushed his hand again through another contraction. "I was thinking maybe Thea," she said when she could breathe again.

He tilted his head and thought about it. "It sounds good with Trixie, I suppose. And I don't recall sleeping with anyone named Thea, so you'll consider that a plus, I'm sure."

"Sounds too good to be true that I could find a name that wasn't attached to someone you'd slept with, so I tried not to consider that." It was true—she'd spent four minutes with a baby name book before realizing that there was little to no possibility that she'd find a name that didn't belong to someone her child's father had slept with. So she went for meaning instead. "I didn't just think of it because of alliteration, though."

"What does it mean, then?"

"It can mean the gift of God." Lucifer stiffened and pulled away a few inches. "I know, I know, but think about it. She really kind of is, you know? A gift from your Dad."

He thought about it for two full contractions, and she started to wonder whether the doctor was planning on coming back at all or if she was just supposed to push the kid out on her own. "Dad put you in place for me to meet," he said finally. "He told Amenadiel to come down and bless you into being. I've told myself for the past few years that I've just been manipulated into doing whatever I've done, but I know that isn't true. I chose to rebel and I chose to leave Hell for earth and I chose to fall in love with you."

His thoughts were not going where she'd expected them to. "So…?"

"But even if I was manipulated, I still got you out of the whole deal," he whispered. "And I would never have gotten you or her without some sort of godly meddling. So I think it's perfect."

She pulled him down and kissed him, because as usual, she couldn't _not_. "And it also refers to the Greek goddess of light, so that's kind of relevant."

As if on cue, the ancient lights flickered. They both stared up at the ceiling and then at each other. "I guess I'll go get the doctor. I don't want to look down there, I want to imagine happier times and keep those memories intact."

"_Lucifer_."

He winked before he stepped outside (and yelled as loudly as he physically could that they needed the doctor back and _what the hell was taking so long_). The nurse sighed as he sat back down next to her.

God, she loved him.


	6. Chapter 6

a/n: i usually don't do author's notes, but before you start - this chapter is a lot. basically all the ups and downs, more happiness than imaginable and more tears than expected. take a moment and breathe - one more second - okay go.

* * *

Thea Decker Morningstar was born thirty minutes later, amid flickering lights and screams and encouragements.

She was absolutely perfect. The doctor placed the baby on Chloe's chest and they just stared at her. Thea blinked up at them and yawned. Chloe felt something dripping onto her shoulder and when she looked up she saw that tears were pouring from Lucifer's eyes faster than he could keep up with them.

"I think this is the first time in all the years I've known you that I've seen you really cry," she whispered. She was about to overflow with emotion too, but that didn't count; he'd seen her cry a few times.

"If you tell my brother…" he muttered.

"I won't."

Lucifer leaned down and brushed his finger down her cheek, as carefully as he could. "How did we possibly make something so perfect?"

There were really no words for that, the proof of the Devil's unadulterated infatuation with his child. They were silent for another few minutes, waiting to see what she would do next and just overall admiring. Finally Chloe brushed her fingers through the baby's dark hair. "Trixie didn't have half this much hair when she was born. I guess that's your hair."

"And your eyes and nose and chin, so she's basically you all over again, Detective."

"Got something wrong with that?" she murmured. Thea grasped Lucifer's finger and wriggled, keeping her eyes squinched closed.

"Definitely not." He leaned down and kissed her. "I'll go get Trixie."

"She's here?"

"I texted Amenadiel and Dan a few minutes after she was born, and literally everyone has texted me and asked to come in and see her, but I think Trixie'll be the first, hmm?"

Whoops, fell in love with him again. "Yeah, go get her." She grabbed him by the jacket—had he just worn a proper suit the entire time she was in labor, what was wrong with him, at least he was completely rumpled and looked like a runway reject—and pulled him back down and kissed him again. "Love you."

"I love you too, Chloe. And you, little angel." He kissed Thea's forehead and left the room.

Thea did look almost exactly like her, Chloe thought. She hadn't kept her eyes open long enough for her to decide what color her eyes were, but she was betting on green or hazel. Just as she was trying to decide whether to examine her toes and make sure that there were ten, Thea opened her eyes. They were green, just as she'd thought, but a darker green than her own. As they studied each other, mother and daughter, Chloe was almost sure she saw bright white light flicker through Thea's eyes.

She hadn't felt the prickling in her fingers or the panicky adrenaline since the demons showed up, despite her anxiety after the fact, and it looked like the power had truly been Thea's. And to think she'd been worried about a winged angel baby at one point. Now it looked like she was going to have to worry about an _electrified _angel baby.

Worth it. So worth it.

Four minutes after he disappeared, Lucifer burst back in the room, Trixie trailing behind. Lucifer spared one single moment to smirk (she took her eyes off Trixie's wary face for one moment to glare at him) before turning and pushing Trixie in front of him. "Go see her, young spawn," he whispered.

"Come on, monkey," she added. Trixie nodded and Lucifer helped Trix carefully clamber onto the bed. "Well, here's your baby sister."

Thea stared down at Thea, and Chloe felt tears threatening again. "What's her name?" Trixie finally asked.

"Lucifer didn't say?"

"He said you should say since you picked it."

She glanced up at Lucifer, who grinned and shrugged. She sighed. "Her name is Thea. Thea Decker Morningstar."

Trixie cooed and finally touched Thea's cheek, the exact same motion that Lucifer had done thirty minutes before. "She's so _cute_!"

"Of course she is," Lucifer said.

They spent the next few minutes all admiring the baby—Chloe asked Trixie if she wanted to hold the baby, but she decided against it, which was fine since Lucifer hadn't even held the baby yet—before Linda and Maze got impatient enough to burst into the room.

"Hi guys!" Linda whispered. After the initial loud bursting into the room, it looked like Linda had remembered that babies spent more time asleep than not, and Maze had not remembered it or decided not to care.

"What did you name her?" Maze asked. Linda held her arms out for a second before controlling herself.

Chloe carefully passed Thea into Lucifer's arms before he could move away or deflect or run away. "Thea," she answered as she watched Lucifer be utterly transfixed again.

"That's the first time he's held her, isn't it," Maze said. Chloe nodded and they all just watched him cradle the baby. Chloe felt her eyes turn into the heart-eye emoji as she noticed that Lucifer was about to cry again.

Linda must have noticed the imminent tears and desire to not cry in front of Amenadiel and Dan, who were possibly defying the amount-of-people-allowed-per-room rule to peek their heads in. "Beautiful name, Chloe! Hand her over, Lucifer," she chirped and gently extricated her from Lucifer's arms before he could really protest.

"But—_fine_." Lucifer sat down in his chair again and pouted until she reached down and grabbed his bruised hand, which he really needed to get wrapped. He squeezed back and relaxed, watching the adults pass the baby around like a hawk. Chloe was amazed that Thea hadn't started making a fuss about her newfound life with all the aunts and uncles but was instead taking the adoration like a champ and was almost asleep.

Dan stepped over to her side and asked a few concerned questions and offered his congratulations again. Trixie got over her concern and draped herself over Chloe's legs and started chattering to Lucifer about how cute her baby sister was.

Linda carefully passed Thea to Maze, who glanced at her, sniffed her forehead, nodded, and passed her to Amenadiel without a word. (Her eyes were teary too, but no one was going to mention that on threat of stabbing.) Amenadiel smiled down at the baby like he was blessing her, and gave her to Dan. Dan stared down at her for a moment, and Chloe knew that he was seeing a bit of the future he'd lost with Charlotte as well as the life that the two of them had missed out on so many years ago.

But when he placed Thea back in her arms, and Lucifer kissed her forehead before leaning against her shoulder to gaze at the beautiful tiny thing who was completely asleep, and their friends chatted softly in the background, she couldn't regret the path she'd chosen, unexpectedly crazy and dangerous and beautiful as it was.

* * *

The next few weeks were simultaneously the happiest and most tiring of Chloe Decker's life.

Thea was basically the best baby she'd ever known (okay, she didn't remember a lot from when Trixie was this little because new job and new baby and new husband within three months of each other). She certainly didn't start sleeping through the night immediately, but she was calmed almost immediately when Lucifer sang for her. She started cooing specifically at her parents at three weeks old but she'd clearly fallen in love with Trixie and her adoration. They also discovered that, despite Lucifer's magical ability to induce baby sleep, Uncle Amenadiel was the best for calming a fussy baby, and it was a task that Amenadiel was happy to perform.

Trixie was still so overjoyed by having a baby sibling finally that she forgot to act like the almost-teenager she'd been threatening to become. She was with Thea the moment she got home from school every day and she was more helpful around the apartment than Chloe could have ever dreamed of, even with knowing how awesome her kid was to begin with. Chloe made it a point to continue Trixie-and-parents time, even if it was usually just game nights with her and Dan while Lucifer wandered the neighborhood with Thea in her stroller. So basically Trixie was perfect as always.

Lucifer proved to be a father that a past version of himself would be utterly embarrassed by. He spent the first few nights that Thea and Chloe were home again wandering the house, watching and waiting. Even without the baby's crying, Chloe would have stayed up with him, just waiting. But as the first week went by, Lucifer relaxed. He helped out as much with the baby as Chloe could have ever hoped—someday she'd have to go to Lux and announce onstage that its owner was capable of changing baby diapers; they'd all pass out from shock—and more.

And she never loved him more than when she saw him holding an alert Thea, Trixie sleeping slumped against his side, singing under his breath until Thea fell asleep. When he looked up and she saw the exhausted all-encompassing love in his eyes, she couldn't help but kiss him, take Thea from his arms, watch him pick Trixie up and put her to bed, and settle Thea in her crib in her room before tugging him to bed. Six-week appointment and all that, and she'd gone back on birth control, and mostly he was just really hot when singing to a baby.

A few weeks after Thea was born—despite the insistence of a few of Trixie's friends' moms, she was _not _keeping track of how many weeks and days and hours and minutes that Thea had spent out in the world, that was just ridiculous (okay fine, it was eight weeks, Lucifer and Linda took the posed pictures every week)—Ella turned up at their doorstep at 6 PM.

Chloe with a screaming Thea opened the door. Thea normally didn't scream like this—it was a maybe every three days kind of thing, which wasn't too bad considering Trixie's previous record of never-shutting-up—but when she did, she was liable to wake the dead. Maybe literally. Chloe did not manage to convey a polite leave-me-and-mine-alone-now face in time, and Ella just pushed past her. "Hi Chloe! What's wrong with Thea? Oh, she's so precious…"

"I would like to see you thinking that after a full night up with the little demon," Lucifer muttered from the couch. Trixie was slightly moody from lack of sleep and Lucifer was vaguely frustrated and even more tired than Trixie, so they were watching a movie with headphones and trying to drown out the sound of fussy baby. "You will not think her so _precious_ after that."

"She's still cute but no fun at three in the morning," Trixie agreed, wincing when she pulled out the earbuds to lean over the edge of the couch to grin at Ella.

Chloe nodded and turned back to their unexpected guest. "What is it? Something at the precinct?" She was starting desk duty again on Monday but if something had come up…

"Nothing at work! Have you checked the calendar lately? It's Friday night!" Before Chloe could protest or move, Ella had Thea in her own arms, and Thea was shocked silent by the sudden movement. Trixie cheered quietly and she and Lucifer slumped into each other's sides.

"What does that mean?"

"Friday night! Chloe, you and Lucifer need a night out! You're young and hot and honestly you need a break! I don't care how precious Thea is most of the time, she's still teeny tiny and you two only get a break when Linda steals her."

Chloe raised an eyebrow at the back of Lucifer's head. That hadn't been happening (much) under her watch, so it looked like Lucifer had been pawning off their daughter. Lucifer shrank slightly into the couch. "How did you know that Linda borrows her?"

"She sends me so many pictures of Thea and Charlie! Do you not have them? Sweet little cousins." Ella handed Chloe her phone and—the lock screen was a picture of Thea and Charlie. She turned her skepticism to Ella, and she cuddled Thea a little closer. "Is that too weird? I'm sorry if it's weird! But they were just too cute!" Chloe took another look at the picture, and even though it looked like Charlie was about to cry and Thea was completely immobile in the corner of a couch, it was basically the cutest thing she'd ever seen.

"Yes, they're adorable." Trixie jumped off the couch—Lucifer tilted enough in the direction of where she'd been sitting that it seemed like the eleven-year-old had actually been supporting a lot of his weight—and skipped over to see the picture. She _aww_'d accordingly and leaned into her side. "But why are you _here_?"

Ella looked at her like she was utterly stupid. "I'm watching the kids so that you two can go out! On a date!"

"Ooh, that sounds lovely, Detective," Lucifer said as he bounded up to stand behind Ella and glance down at the baby before pretending to not care that Thea was showing more calm interest in the forensic scientist than she'd shown for anyone aside from Amenadiel in a week. "We could go to Lux."

"You should go, Mommy," Trixie agreed seriously. "You and Lucifer need to get away from Thea for a while. She could use a break from you too, you know. Also, Ella makes really good chocolate cake." The two fist-bumped.

Lucifer made puppy eyes and Chloe sighed. "Fine. For the record, Thea doesn't need a break from us. She's a baby and doesn't know the difference."

"Are you sure, Chloe?" Lucifer asked. "This is the most content that the spawn has ever been." She peered down at Thea and—she was almost asleep. Great. They could have been getting a _nap_.

* * *

She'd almost forgotten how loud Lux tended to be. With Maze at the helm for a while, the music selection had veered more toward rock instead of classical, but Lucifer was still delighted. "Isn't this nice, Detective?" he asked, pushing her lightly toward the bar with a hand on her back. "We're back in the club, finally, and the spawn aren't here!"

She rolled her eyes but leaned back toward him to reply. "I can hardly hear myself think, but considering that Thea's probably been doing that ear damage all on her own over the past two days, I'm not too concerned. And it is nice to know that Trixie's eating her weight in cake and Thea's probably asleep for the first time in way too long."

"I didn't hear half of that, Chloe, but I'll assume that you agree with me. Two Scotches, on the rocks," he called toward the bartender.

When the hot bartender noticed him, he cheered and called out, "Lucifer's back!" Immediately Lucifer was surrounded by adoring fans slash stalkers, and Chloe was pushed toward the end of the bar. She watched him bask in the attention for a minute before she took a few steps away to glance over the rest of the club.

"Who's with the baby and Trixie?" a voice asked in her ear. She jumped away, bumping into a middle-aged stockbroker who spilled his drink on himself, before focusing on Maze.

"Maze! Hi!" She pulled her into a hug that was reciprocated far faster than she expected. "They're with Ella, she dropped by and insisted that Lucifer and I get out of the apartment."

"That was a good call." Maze peered into her face. "You look _exhausted_."

"Yes, that would make sense," she deadpanned, trying not to be offended. "My baby didn't let me put her down for almost two days straight."

Maze winced. Chloe imagined that Charlie really wasn't doing too much better in the whole sleeping thing. "You look better than Lucifer, though. He looks like he's been fighting Thea for the chance to sleep and losing." She glanced over at Lucifer, who did not look much better than that description.

"What do I look like?" Lucifer chirped over her shoulder. She glanced back up at the bar, where his fan club glared at his arm around her waist. Oh yeah, the boring detective was with the club owner. The Devil was hers, ladies.

With an evil grin, Maze said, "You look like a middle-aged father of six."

"I do?" Lucifer glanced down at himself, which was very slightly rumpled and had a bit of glitter on the lapel of his jacket. He shrugged. "So I do. Good observation, Mazikeen."

Chloe blinked at him. That was… not a reaction she expected. She pushed up onto her tiptoes and kissed him. Thankfully neither he nor Maze questioned the kiss when she pulled away—apparently they were a PDA couple now, and she saw a stalker at the bar start crying—because she did not want to explain why it meant so much to her that he was okay looking like an exhausted mess. "What are you doing on your night of freedom?"

Chloe almost answered _nothing, just drinking here until 9 or until I go deaf_, but Lucifer interrupted. "We have reservations at some fancy Italian restaurant. We'll only be here another few minutes before we have to make that." Maze laughed at her expression, which was probably somewhere between surprise and flabbergasted.

"You made reservations in the hour and a half since Ella showed up and made us abandon the kids?" Chloe asked as they stepped out of Lux toward Lucifer's car.

"We didn't abandon them, Detective, we left them in the hands of someone who cares deeply for them and wouldn't mind doing so if we decided to leave for Canada instead of returning tonight. Speaking of which, we could do that if you wanted."

"Why would we go to Canada? Neither of us like the cold."

"I don't mind the cold," he grinned.

They made small talk over their steaks and wine. They were still in agreement on sports—neither really cared aside from wrestling and roller blading and they didn't have time for it anyway but Thea was definitely doing sports when she got older. Lucifer confessed that he did hate the cold and that Hell was actually on the colder end instead of fiery. (It took two full glasses of wine but) Lucifer got her to admit that she agreed to do _Hot Tub High School_ just because it was the first script her mom showed her so she just went for it (bad decision).

They discussed a few cases she'd had waiting before they went on maternity and paternity leave. "I hope Dan left some of them for me."

"He probably did all of them, and then we'll be stuck with the child again."

She rolled her eyes. "Probably, knowing our luck."

"Oh, no, you were supposed to be the optimistic one here. _He definitely wouldn't have actually done all of the cases, I was just kidding, you'll get to leave the house again, don't worry_."

"First, I don't sound like that. Second, if you really want to go back to the more exciting half of work, you can just ask Dan to let you tag along, I really don't mind."

He shuddered. "I would sooner babysit both offspring for a week by myself. I've tagged along with Daniel quite enough." When he glanced up from his green beans, his eyes showed all of the emotions he didn't want to say out loud—all of the dedication and commitment and determination he showed every day. She reached across the table to take his hand, and he squeezed back.

"This is like all of the other dates you wanted to take me on, isn't it?" she asked.

He smiled, almost proudly. "Rather like them, yes. Everything was much simpler then, just you and me and a bottle of wine, but it's turned out well, hasn't it?"

"Who'd have thought it?"

"Certainly not me, not after the beginning when you turned me down so handily."

"Even if you were hot, you were a jerk, so it wasn't hard at all. You've gotten much better."

He almost blushed. "Are you sure? I feel like the same Devil most of the time, that arse of a man who couldn't figure out why you made him bleed. And then I fell completely off the wagon into monster."

"You came back from that. And besides, you got your angel wings back, remember? You're nothing like that monster anymore. That was just your brain attacking you, and Kinley's prophecy didn't help."

She'd tugged her hand from his to slice off another few bites of steak, and his hand was just resting limply on the table when she glanced back up from the remnants of her dinner. She looked up at his face, and his jaw was slack and she couldn't see any emotion save confusion in his eyes.

"What is it?"

"My angel wings—are back? How do you know?"

"When you left for…" The waitress appeared to refill her water, and she kept her voice at a whisper. "Hell. When you went back to Hell, your wings were all beautiful again. You didn't know?"

"No. I didn't realize. I didn't even think about what my wings looked like. Leaving you was distraction enough from remembering the beast wings from before."

She lifted her hand to cup his cheek in her palm, and a muscle in his jaw twitched under her hand. She could feel his tension radiating from him, a reverse of her light magic situation from almost three months before.

Ten minutes later, he'd paid (the waitress shot both of them concerned looks, and Chloe just shrugged in response to her silent query of is-he-okay-he-looks-comatose) and they were driving back to Lux. It was the only place she could think of to be completely alone and show him his wings.

Barely thirty minutes later, they were standing on the balcony of the penthouse, staring at the wings of an angel. The light emanating from them was mesmerizing, and for the first time Chloe almost missed that fire in her veins, the same power that coursed through those wings. "I—I didn't feel them when I left for Hell. I just released them and flew away and sat on the cold throne and wished I was still here."

"They're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

"You little mortal," Lucifer murmured fondly. He folded the wings around himself for a moment, and she saw a few scars among the feathers.

She reached out and touched one of the divots. "Is this where—"

"When I protected you from Cain and his friends? Yes. It seems like they didn't heal properly. I wonder why. Amenadiel would probably have some pretentious guess."

She shrugged it away—that was too long ago to matter. She took another step forward. "And you thought you hadn't changed at all. You've got your angel wings back, and you've won me over finally, and we have a baby at home."

He smiled, pulling her closer with hands around her waist. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her arms brushing his wings and sending that tingling feeling through her body. "The last time we were on this balcony like this, nighttime and wings in the background… you broke my heart, asking me to stay."

She sniffed, the memory of his words flashing through her mind. "You think you didn't break my heart, leaving? I think I had it worse off, having to watch you fly away."

"I don't plan on ever leaving again, Chloe." He finally leaned down and kissed her, the heavenly fire from the wings and his mouth warming her whole body and making her feel alive and starting to erase the pain. She sensed more than saw or felt his wings disappear, and he tugged her as closely as he could. Finally she pulled away when she couldn't breathe, and she rested her forehead on his shoulder. "I do love you, Chloe Decker."

She leaned back to look at his face, the picture of content. "I love you too."

They stood there for another moment in silence, just breathing the other in, before Lucifer sighed. "I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I miss the spawn."

"Me too," she whispered. She wanted to hold Thea and listen to Lucifer's humming over them, and it was incredible how quickly she'd grown to love the way her life had become. "Do you think Ella's tired of them yet? We didn't say when we would be back."

"I did my best to imply that we would never return while you got dressed. Which reminds me, I apologize, Detective, I didn't comment on your dress."

"Your eyes bugged out when you saw me come down the stairs," she said, tugging at his hand to lead him away from the balcony to the elevator. That was enough of old memories for the night. "That was adequate appreciation."

"Well, you are stunning, and it's a pity that we may never be alone again for me to enjoy it properly. I'll miss it, especially since I'm willingly returning to my nine-pound screaming jailor."

He finished the sentence as they stepped out of the elevator, naturally just as Maze happened to pass by on her way to the bar. All she heard was Maze's giggling "celibate devil" before a faux-scowling Lucifer tugged her to the car.

"_Not _a celibate devil," Chloe heard herself yelling back, and Lucifer's smirk kept her laughing all the way home, where they were met with a flustered Ella, an over-sugared but finally happy Trixie, and a cooing Thea.

Chloe sent Ella home (with a coupon for wine that she'd been saving), tucked Trixie into bed with warm milk and a story (she was so happy that her older baby was still okay with bedtime stories), and then she and Lucifer entertained Thea in their bed until she fell asleep (if one good thing had happened that night in the Deckerstar apartment, it was Thea officially figuring out how to smile).

"We should do that more often," Lucifer murmured against her shoulder as he pressed her back down onto the bed after they got out of their fancy clothes. Chloe nodded before kissing him speechless. Their night was occasionally paused by Thea squealing for attention and Trixie complaining of a stomach ache, but Chloe was pretty sure that neither of them stopped smiling the whole time.

* * *

"_What_, Daniel?" was the first thing that Chloe heard a week later, the voice of a thoroughly peeved Devil from the foot of the bed. "She's still asleep, I'll tell her when she wakes up."

"I'm awake," she muttered into her pillow. A phone was unceremoniously shoved into her hand. "What."

"You sound cheery," an equally not-cheery Dan said. "Anyway. I sprained my ankle on a stake-out last night, caught the guy but tripped on the sidewalk. So could you take over my shift today? I can watch Thea, if you want to take Lucifer with you."

She groaned into the pillow. The captain were giving her (and Lucifer, since they were apparently attached at the hip) half of the normal shifts even though she was still strongly encouraged to keep the desk duty, and this was supposed to be a day off, such a revolutionary concept in the world of law enforcement. "What time is it?"

"Six AM," Lucifer and Dan said at the same time.

"Why did you call at six? You could have waited until, I don't know, seven, like a normal person. Thea just got to sleep an hour and thirty-five minutes ago." Dan breathed a _sorry _but didn't add anything else. "Fine. We'll take your shift, and if there's any really important cases I'm taking all the credit even if all I do is tackle the perp."

Dan sighed loudly but agreed. Chloe hung up and buried her face back in her pillow to resent being awake in silence and darkness.

She got that wish for a solid five minutes before she heard rustling and whispering. "Chloe," Lucifer murmured from the foot of the bed. His voice was quiet enough that there was definitely something going on, so she lifted her head just enough to see Trixie cuddled in Lucifer's arms. Lucifer—by the very faint light coming in the window—looked absolutely spooked by the child in his arms, but he wasn't letting go.

"I had a bad dream, Mommy." Chloe turned over so that Lucifer could scoot them down the bed to her. "Someone was looking in the window at me."

Lucifer glanced down at her sharply and had transferred Trixie into her arms before she could do anything more than nod. She heard the front door open seconds after he left the room. "I'm sorry you had a bad dream, monkey. You know it wasn't real, right?"

"I know, I'm not a baby." She could see the violence of Trixie's eye-rolling even in the darkness of the room, and she tried not to smile. Almost on cue, Thea shrieked, and the front door closed again. Trixie curled into her side and they sat in silence, Chloe slowly rocking Trixie back and forth and desperately hoping that Lucifer's silence meant that he hadn't found anything outside Trixie's window. A minute later, Lucifer arrived, baby cradled against his chest, and he nodded—nothing outside. She took a deep cleansing breath and took Thea from his arms. Trixie rolled over onto Lucifer as he got into bed.

"You're taking up all the space, child," he muttered, rearranging them so that no one was directly on top of each other. Thea squeaked and waved her arms around, showing her utter joy at being with her entire family so early in the morning.

"Am not," Trixie whispered. "Why is Thea awake, anyway? She was awake so long last night."

"Babies are weird, monkey."

Lucifer snorted. "Almost looking forward to work, Chloe."

"Do you have to go to work in the morning?" Trixie giggled softly after a pause during which Chloe wished again that Lucifer hadn't picked up the phone. "In two hours?"

"Your dad is gonna watch Thea, and he'll pick you up from school—she's asleep. How did she do that?"

Lucifer shrugged. "There was nothing under her window, so her fears were for nothing."

"But you thought about checking. So it could have been something."

"It's me and mine, Chloe, so it could have always been something. I've not forgotten what happened three months ago. And Maze still thinks that the demons are just biding their time."

Chloe sighed and looked down at the baby, who was looking back and forth between her and Lucifer like it was a ping pong match. "At least we'll have something to do tomorrow aside from stare at this little angel."

"Demon, angel, take your pick. She certainly can't decide which side she's going to fall on." Lucifer leaned over the kids to kiss her. "I love you."

She watched him clamber gracefully off the bed and toward the bathroom, starting the shower a minute later. Thea smiled up at her. "We love him too, don't we, baby girl," she murmured. Thea giggled. "But he's right, Dan's going to have a fun day with you today."

* * *

"How did Dan manage to get out of work on a day like this?" Chloe bit out. Lucifer growled unintelligibly and pushed her back into the wall of the alleyway. So far, they had at least four dead and (judging by the screaming) two dying. The day had started normally, with paperwork and coffee, requests to see pictures of Lucifer holding Thea, and a measly interrogation. It had become less normal with the report of a _lot _of gunfire three miles from the precinct.

"What is going on?" Ella asked from beside them. They'd been on their way to check out the crime scene, having been assured that it was abandoned of all the bad guys, only to find that it wasn't.

"They're shooting at us, Miss Lopez, do keep up. And Detective _Douche_ managed to get out of this lovely day by spraining his ankle when he tripped on a sidewalk. My only hope is that my offspring has managed to live up to my legacy and is terrorizing him."

Chloe shoved against his chest enough to reach past to fire back. "What's the plan?" Just as she spoke, the firing stopped. "We go out and check?"

"LAPD, come out with your hands up!" Lucifer screamed.

"That's not your thing to say, I'm the one who says that—but yeah. LAPD, lay your weapons down!" She and Lucifer crept toward the edge of the alley, motioning at Ella to _keep back_.

Five bodies lay in the middle of the road, two police officers and three gang members. It was completely silent, as if cotton had been shoved into her ears. The instincts that had abandoned her when Thea was born sprang back to life.

"Chloe, there's something not right about all of this." She nodded, trying to keep him back.

Around them, more police officers and detectives poked their heads out from behind their covers. "Clear, Detective?" one called.

"Stay back," she said, barely above a whisper, but everyone heard. She was a hundred feet away from the closest body when its head lifted.

In unison, they stood up, standing on wobbling and bleeding limbs, and she heard the gasping and screaming of the LAPD around them as if through a tunnel. One grinned from the body of a man who'd sometimes brought coffee for the whole precinct. "How far you've let your guard fall, Lucifer."

Bullets flew, striking the demons with abandon and flying towards her and Lucifer as they used the weapons from the bodies they'd stolen. Lucifer roared, appearing beside her and wrapping his wings around them. She clung to his neck and leaned up to his ear. "This was a diversion. _The girls_." She felt Lucifer's arms shake, the bullets' impact pushing them back an inch at a time.

Before she could blink, Lucifer was holding onto her so tightly that she couldn't feel her arms. She looked down upon the carnage, his wings lifting them higher and higher. The force of the wings broke the air around them, and she felt like she was the one flying, not the one being carried away.

"If you leave me anywhere—" she started as they landed outside her apartment. Lucifer set her down and steadied her for a single moment. The front door was caved in, and she heard screaming.

"Never," Lucifer replied, before darting through the smashed front window. Chloe followed him in through the front door, never more scared of what she was about to find.

Dan lay sprawled against Trixie's closed door, a small dagger in his chest. She fell down to her knees next to him, pressing one hand against the edge of the wound and squeezing his hand with the other. She—she couldn't—he couldn't—Trixie—

"You fell for it," the demon rasped as Lucifer held him up, hand around his neck and squeezing.

His devil face melted over his human face and his wings tensed. "And you will suffer for my negligence. You touched _my family_. You tried to destroy all that I hold dear. And for that I will paint the grounds of Hell _red _with carnage." Finally the demon's neck snapped and Lucifer dropped him at the foot of the stairs as the crack echoed through the room.

Dan's shallow breaths filled the room. "Dan…" she tried.

He attempted a laugh around the edge of the dagger. "So it was real the whole time," he said, staring at Lucifer's flame-licked head and bleeding wings. Lucifer turned around to face them. "Didn't expect that."

"I did not lie," Lucifer said as he knelt down in front of them and let his human face reappear. "Now where is my daughter?"

"They're in—they're in Chloe's closet upstairs." Lucifer disappeared, flickering out just as he had that morning.

"Dan…"

"I tried, Chloe, I tried." Finally he moved his head enough that she could see his face. "They came in and they—_wouldn't die_—and they just wanted Thea—kept on demanding I give her to them—so I made Trix take her upstairs and hide—I don't know if it was—enough, what if—"

Lucifer stepped down into view. Trixie clung to his leg and he held Thea against his chest, her screams quieting the longer her father held her. Chloe felt her heart finally settle down, the white hot fire in her blood finally calm at the sight of her daughters.

Dan exhaled a breath of relief. He glanced away from her to Trixie, then back. She motioned toward Trixie, and Trixie ducked around Lucifer to kneel on Dan's other side. "I'm so sorry, baby girl," he whispered. "You shouldn't—be here—"

"You saved me, Daddy. You saved me—me and Thea." Tears poured down Trixie's cheeks. Dan motioned her forward and he kissed her forehead.

He didn't look away from Trixie or release Chloe's hand when he spoke. "You'll take care of them? I can't—I won't leave—" His breaths were growing more shallow, and Chloe saw the fear on Trixie's face and heard her shaking breaths even as she saw the flashing lights of the ambulance they hadn't called. She wanted to pull Trixie away, shield her from this, and she wanted to rip the knife out of Dan's chest and pretend that it was okay. He would be okay, they would all be fine, there wasn't a dead body in her living room, Dan was going to make it. "I won't leave them—"

Lucifer knelt down across from him, him and Chloe and Trixie forming a barrier around Dan to protect him, shield him from what was moments away. "I will protect them with my life, Daniel, such as it is. I'll keep them safe."

Two figures appeared behind Lucifer, a short-haired girl and Amenadiel. Tears rushed down Amenadiel's face, and the girl winked when Chloe made eye contact with her. Amenadiel reached out and touched Thea's forehead, and she quieted.

Dan nodded as paramedics burst into the house. "Protect them," he breathed. The light left his eyes, Trixie sobbed, and Amenadiel and the girl disappeared in a cacophony of wings.


	7. Chapter 7

It took a week for everyone (the police) to understand (not really) what had happened. The police report was full of explanations and cover-ups. Chloe held it and knew no one would ever really understand the truth, really.

But none of it mattered, whether they'd seen Lucifer's wings or if Ella figured out that the other man in the apartment (not the two that Dan had somehow killed with kitchen knives before she and Lucifer had gotten there) had died when human hands broke his neck. _It didn't matter_, she knew as she sat in the penthouse.

Dan was dead, killed protecting her children.

Trixie didn't leave Lucifer's side for a full day (except for the five minutes that she'd screamed horrible things at him for not being there before they killed her dad, and then she almost passed out and Lucifer caught her and held her as tightly as he could).

Chloe didn't give Thea to anyone aside from Lucifer for three days (it made showering and a lot of other daily things hard, since it was almost too long to be away from her and not watching her, but she didn't know what else she could do). When they were alone they didn't talk much, just long hugs and brief kisses and switching kids from arm to arm.

Every day was a blur, dealing with the police and the bodies of the people who'd been seen dead (and then weren't dead) and moving to the penthouse (there were many things that Chloe Decker considered herself able to deal with, and living in the apartment where her elder daughter had watched her father die was _not _one of them) and taking care of Thea while making sure that Trixie wasn't drowning among everything else normally included in Normal Life.

Every night lasted forever, the previous memory loop of Lucifer saying goodbye replaced with Dan's rasping cough as blood filled his lungs. Every night Lucifer paced around the penthouse with Thea sleeping in his arms, watching and waiting. Every night Trixie clambered into their bed and held on as tightly as she could. Chloe just watched the night disappear and the day come back in a daze.

"It should have been me," Lucifer finally said one morning two weeks after Dan died. He was standing behind the bar, staring at the bottles without seeing them.

Trixie, sitting at the bar and eating cereal as silently as someone could, shook her head. "It's not your fault, Lucifer."

"The demons wanted to hurt me, to take my child down to Hell since I came back to earth instead of ruling them. Dan should never have been there, I shouldn't have left you and Thea—"

"Did you know it was going to happen?" Trixie demanded, her ears turning pink as she got angry.

"No, but I should have—"

"You're just the Devil, you can't see the future," she said crisply. Oh yeah. Two days after, when Chloe realized that Trixie had seen a lot more than she would have liked, they tried to give her an explanation for Lucifer's wings that didn't involve reality, but she just glared at them with a _don't lie to me, I already know the truth _face and they'd just let it be. Lucifer had even showed her his devil face when she asked. "Daddy protected me and Thea and I know he's okay with that." Chloe almost teared up at the adult-like resolution in Trixie's voice.

"He is," Amenadiel said from behind her. Thea squealed when she saw her uncle and reached toward him. Amenadiel smiled and took Thea from her arms, letting her play with his necklace when she reached for it. "He's in heaven, Trixie, with Charlotte."

Trixie grinned at Lucifer, who slowly mirrored the smile. Trixie stood up on her chair and clambered over the counter to hug Lucifer. "Trixie," Chloe tried, but their smiles—they hadn't smiled in a week, none of them had—were enough to stop her attempt at discipline. She turned back to Amenadiel. "He really is in heaven? Even with… everything?"

Amenadiel nodded benevolently. "It took some convincing for him to let go of his guilt and anger, but yes. He's okay. And he wants all of you to be okay."

Lucifer nodded, but Chloe saw the growing distance in his eyes. She recognized it from a dark night almost a year ago, and she knew what it meant.

* * *

They didn't say anything for another week. She knew what was going to happen, and she knew that he knew that she knew because how couldn't he know? She knew that she was tiptoeing around the penthouse, wandering past the dancers (significantly less stripped-down than before they moved in, she thought) and through the tables with that rushing sound in her ears that had overwhelmed her for the first week after Lucifer had left the first time.

Linda and Amenadiel and Maze were at the penthouse as much as their jobs would allow. Linda alternated between Trixie and Lucifer and Chloe and they all pretended that therapy would work, Maze drank Lucifer under the table in one truly epic night (which turned into the first time Chloe laughed since Dan died), and Amenadiel stared into the distance almost as much as Lucifer did.

Lucifer clung to Trixie and Thea like Dan's request for him to protect them was some sort of compulsion, and Trixie held on almost as hard except for the first time she had a friend over to the penthouse. That was an entire teenage adventure of giggling and gushing and pretending that she didn't actually like her mom and mom's boyfriend and Chloe was pretty sure that Maisie had at one point told Trixie that _her stepdad was really hot _and Trixie had _eww_'d that statement properly but definitely not refuted the stepdad part.

Thea was mostly just happy, content to ignore her family's emotions. Lucifer was the first to discover that when she was completely and utterly content she glowed. "She's like a glow-stick," Chloe muttered as she fiddled with the baby's feet. Thea had decided that she was too happy to sleep, so was gurgling to herself on her parents' bed.

"It's good that she's content, Detective, but I cannot sleep with a glow-stick in the bassinet in the corner," Lucifer grumbled, his arm over his eyes to block the soft light. "I certainly never _glowed _in heaven, not that I was ever a child, I was created looking exactly like this, so I'm at a loss as to how to put her out."

"You can't _put out_ a baby like a candle—"

"Half-angel baby who has powers somehow, Chloe, there's no telling what she can do or what we should do about it."

They eventually decided that they'd have to put her back in the crib and hope for the best. Thankfully Thea had gotten enough exercise pushing herself up on her elbows and wiggling her arms and legs around like a madman that she fell asleep after one squeal of protest that also put the light out. _Fine, that was the best way to say it_, Chloe thought as she curled into Lucifer's arms.

A few hours later, in the blackest part of the night, Chloe woke up slowly, sleep trying to hold her down like a weighted blanket. She opened her eyes just enough to see that Lucifer wasn't lying next to her anymore, raising her head to see that he was standing above Thea's crib.

"I love you so much, you little angel-demon spawn," he whispered. Thea gurgled. "Yes, I know. And you'll watch over your mum and sister. Not sure why they'd need a little glow-stick of an infant, but at least you inherited my looks." Thea squeaked again, and Lucifer sighed. "Fine, you are the splitting image of your mother, luckily enough. I came back to earth for you, little one, and I'm leaving again for you. No, don't do that, shush—" the baby squealed again, slightly louder "—but it's just because I love you too much. You'll understand someday."

Lucifer stared down into the bassinet and sighed again, a shaking exhale. Eventually he scooped the baby out of the crib and stepped out of the bedroom.

Chloe got out of bed, as silently as she physically could, her heart pounding hard enough to crash its way through her ribcage. _It couldn't be tonight, not yet, not yet..._ She watched him pad into Trixie's curtained-off faux bedroom. "Lucifer?" Trixie murmured sleepily.

"This was supposed to be completely silent, urchin," Lucifer muttered.

"What?"

"You weren't supposed to wake up." He sighed again, and it was awfully bold of him to assume that he hadn't woken her up yet. "I've got to go back to Hell, Trixie—"

"No! I'm not losing you too!"

"Shh, you'll wake your mother." Lucifer turned his head to check the living room for her, but she managed to get back into their room before he saw her. He turned back to Trixie and she crept out just enough to see them again. "I'm going back to make sure that no one else has to die just because I can't accept that I belong in Hell."

"You don't—"

"I'm their King, Trixie, and if I don't go back they'll just try again. And maybe they'll be successful and actually kidnap Thea, and your mother would die to protect you two. It's the only way I can protect you, Trixie."

They were silent for a minute, but Chloe heard Trixie's sniffles, and her heart broke again, a thousand times over. "Are you leaving now?" Trix finally asked.

"I was supposed to just disappear in the middle of the night again, no such fanfare, so yes."

"Are you ready, brother?" Chloe jumped when she heard Amenadiel's voice from the balcony. "I thought you were—"

"Yes, I was going to leave without waking anyone—shut up." Lucifer turned back to Trixie and kissed her forehead, passing Thea into her arms in the same movement. "I love you, Trixie. You'll watch over Thea and your mum for me?"

Trixie nodded, her hair flying all over the place. Thea tried to grab at it, but Trixie was far too used to that to allow hair pulling, and she flipped her hair out of Thea's reach. "Did you say bye to Mom?"

Lucifer stood and stepped over to Amenadiel. "I've said goodbye to your mother once before, and that almost destroyed me. I—"

Finally Chloe's shock released her, and she staggered into the living room. She couldn't, she wouldn't let him go again—not like this. "So you'd let me wake up alone? With just Trixie's explanation?"

Lucifer met her eyes and she saw the control that had been keeping him in one piece for Trixie's sake crack, just a little. "Detective."

"You are the worst at saying quiet goodbyes," she muttered, moving to stand just a foot away, twelve inches that seemed like twelve thousand miles.

"Chloe, I—you know I have to go back. We may have stopped it now, _again_, but for how long? I need to keep them contained—they _must_ have a king."

She didn't even bother to try to hold back her tears or derision, all of her nightmares from the four months he was gone returning in a flash. "Those are the _exact_ same words you used before, the other time you left in the middle of the night."

He tried and failed to smile. "You know I'm right, Chloe. Dan died because I was foolish enough to believe that they would stay in Hell without my guard, or that they would ever give up. I refuse to let anyone else die for that, and I won't let Thea or Charlie suffer the consequences of my abandoning the throne. Damned uncomfortable though it may be."

She couldn't argue. How could she? She'd watched her daughter's father die because demons had returned to earth to kidnap her baby. The first time—there'd been no proof that they'd do anything worse than possess some people for the fun of it. This time—they would stop at nothing to destroy Lucifer and probably take over the earth. She knew it. He knew it. Judging by Trixie's quiet sobs, even she knew it.

"Fine," she said hoarsely. She took one tiny step closer, then another, then another, until she was close enough that her socked toes were almost touching his shined shoes. "But if you never come back to me, you'd best believe that I'm going down to bring you back home."

Lucifer tried to say something, but she kissed him before he could let the words out. In almost no time at all, she was pressed so close to him that she truly didn't know where he ended and she began. His hands wove through her hair and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, trying to keep him with her. They finally pulled away, gasping for breath. "You can't leave us," she whispered when she got her breath back. One last try. He couldn't begrudge her that.

Lucifer's eyes were full of tears. "I love you, Chloe Decker," he whispered back. He brushed his mouth against hers one last time before he pulled away to step to the balcony.

Thea shrieked from Trixie's arms and Chloe reached down to take her. Trixie held onto her hand so tightly that she felt the circulation being cut off, but the feeling of holding on made up for the slight pain. Thea squealed fitfully, her hands waving through the air as if she wanted to punch all of the bad things that were taking her daddy away.

At Amenadiel's side, Lucifer stared at the three of them. They stared back, the Decker girls. He whispered a final "goodbye" before his and Amenadiel's wings unfurled, the white and brown feathers blending in a heavenly display. Chloe closed her eyes, letting her tears fall, and when she opened them again she saw their wings disappear into the night.

"Goodbye," Trixie whispered.

* * *

"How are you doing?" Ella asked a week later. She had (at the behest of literally everyone at the precinct) taken a few weeks off of work when she had another meltdown at her desk two days after Lucifer left. She'd had to explain where Lucifer was—again—and it hadn't gone as well as the first time. No broken computer this time and no Dan to calm her down, and she was fairly sure that the feelings of a few interns would never be healed again. It was a miracle she hadn't been fired.

Chloe swiveled her head on the back of the couch to glare at Ella. Ella snorted and Thea babbled.

"Well, I'm not surprised," Ella said, taking Thea's hand. "He left you—again. And this time with a baby! His baby! I'm seriously reconsidering whether to call him a friend at all."

"He had to leave, Ella, he had no choice," Chloe said, knowing full well that she was saying it as if she'd used that as the explanation for Lucifer's untimely disappearance a thousand times. Which she had. Amenadiel (the jerk) hadn't told Linda or Maze that he was leaving to take Lucifer back, so she'd gotten to explain to them too, why both brothers were gone and when or if they'd be back. Maze, especially, had not taken it well, since it was the second time her boss slash second-best-friend had abandoned her to return to her home.

It had been a truly terrible week. Also, she was pretty sure that Thea was about to start teething, so an entire middle finger to her entire life. Except Trixie, the angel. Trix had been the one to keep her and Thea calm since Lucifer disappeared, and she was even going to school and surviving middle school. Trixie deserved every gold star the universe could offer.

"Well, let me know if you need anything," Ella said, shaking Thea's hand to the baby's utter amusement. "I'm here for you! We need to have a movie night soon! Us and Linda and Maze and the kids."

_So basically everyone that she talked to or cared about these days_, Chloe thought. "What are we doing right now, then?" They were indeed watching a movie, a romance movie that Ella had brought over, actually.

"I mean, like, popcorn and snacks and maybe Tom Cruise!" Ella looked somber, and Chloe remembered that Ella had lost Dan too. "I think that would be just the thing—"

Ella was interrupted by Amenadiel's appearance on the balcony. "Chloe, Lucifer's settled in, finally. He's had a full war with the demons. I think he has maybe three thousand left. That's why I was away so long—it was good to have something evil to battle after everything that has happened—" Chloe finally got his attention onto a slack-jawed Ella. Amenadiel stared. "Miss Lopez."

"You have wings."

He reabsorbed his wings, looking as innocent as possible. Amenadiel was a terrible liar. "What wings?"

"You have wings. And you just landed on the balcony like an angel. Or else you have flying and invisibility technology. And I mean, who knows what's in Area 51, but I really don't think that that exists."

Amenadiel and Chloe glanced at each other and shrugged. What would it hurt, anyway, one more person knowing? Especially when it was Ella? It wasn't like Lucifer had tried to keep the secret, anyway.

Five minutes later, Trixie poked her head through the elevator doors to see a screaming Ella, a frantic Amenadiel, and a thoroughly amused Thea. Chloe was just rubbing Ella's back, trying to bring her down to some semblance of calm. Trixie just skipped over to the couch, hugged Ella, and chirped, "You'll get used to it. We all did," and sat down next to her with a grin.

That Friday, Ella attended her first movie night with the newly re-formed Lucifer Survival Group. They never actually got to the movie (_Edge of Tomorrow_, Tom Cruise as requested); it was amazing how many questions could be stored in such a small person. Chloe and Linda spent most of the night laughing, and when she met Maze's eyes she suddenly knew that they could be okay again.

Of course, a minute after she and Maze actually hugged, Thea started glowing for the first time since Lucifer's return to Hell, and everyone except Chloe and Trixie freaked out. It looked like she'd forgotten to mention that aspect of her three-month-old. To say that Amenadiel was surprised despite his prediction of this exact thing would have been an understatement.

* * *

Months passed, as they tend to. Minutes and days and weeks blurred by with normal activity and dragged on with the monotony of that normal.

She started the first few days after he left avoiding the balcony with all she had, then she started spending a few minutes out there every day—yeah, she was in love with the guy and he was gone, she was going to try to be as close as possible. It was ridiculous and made her fail that Bechdel test all over again, but it was what it was.

She looked for a new apartment the week after he left—her old apartment had been blocked off as a crime scene and she honestly just was never going to go back there ever (no matter how cheap it was, as Maze pointed out)—but that stopped when Amenadiel handed her some papers that named her the owner of Lux.

"The _hell_?" she snapped, throwing the papers back at his face.

He looked suitably apologetic and scared. "He transferred it to you the week before he left—"

"I can _read_. Why did he give me Lux? What am I going to do with a fricking _nightclub_?"

Amenadiel shrugged. "He wanted you and the girls to always have a home, and he claimed he hadn't had the time to go house-hunting before the demons rose."

She just stared at the angel for a minute. "He wanted to go… house-hunting?"

Amenadiel shrugged again. They stared at each other, then down at the deed to Lux. Finally Amenadiel leaned over and took her hand. "Keep the nightclub. You need somewhere to stay, and this is as safe as you could desire. Maze will move in again without a second thought, or at least she will if she hears you'll be staying in this place. And… Chloe, you never know what will happen."

And that's how she got a roommate again. Maze was far more welcome company than most, and she usually didn't mind Thea's midnight squalling since she'd gotten so used to Charlie. (When she was running on coffee fumes alone, it wasn't good, but then Trixie calmed them all down. How in the world had the eleven-year-old become the adult?)

Her mom came for a visit four weeks after Lucifer left, talking mostly about seeing her grandbabies who she hadn't seen since Dan's funeral, but also inquiring about _how Lucifer could have left her daughter again_. She was almost as indignant as Ella and didn't have the benefit of eventual explanation to stop her complaining. Chloe was both glad—they just don't get along and even Thea looked scared when her nana came in to scoop her up—and sad—comforting mom visit and all—when her mom went back home and it was just the three of them again.

A month after Lucifer left, she was _finally _back at work without having been required to get police-mandated therapy. She was assigned a new partner (a woman who was almost as serious about police work as Chloe had been when she started) and after two weeks of slow cases and boredom, they stumbled on clues to the Thompson murder that she and Dan had tried to solve so long ago. They found Flavio Romano's brother, and her new partner didn't need Lucifer's glowing red eyes to convince Marco to confess to murdering the Thompsons with his brother. (Turned out that Jake Thompson had been in serious debt to the LA Mafia, and the warning had ended in quadruple homicide.) Cracking the case left her on a high that lasted nearly a week.

But even with the distractions of life, she couldn't escape him. Almost every morning she woke up with tears on her face, the echo of Lucifer's goodbye ringing in her ears. Every night, she saw him fly away, and there was nothing she could do except watch the beautifully bright wings disappear into darkness. Every morning, she made herself get out of bed because there was nothing else she could do; she'd managed to live without him before, and she'd damn well keep doing it, even though half her heart was in Hell once more.

Chloe walked around half in a daze some days, the days that reminded her that she'd lost too many people and some of them were never coming back. Other days she was angry—angry that Lucifer had ever left Hell—it was his place, wasn't it? Shouldn't he have stayed? Then he wouldn't have fallen in love with her and then she wouldn't have fallen in love with him and then he wouldn't have had to leave. But she never let herself think like that too long. What would be the point?

Thea smiled up at her and giggled when she picked her up and peered at her with dark green eyes with a joy that comes from life, just being alive. And when she looked at her baby, she knew it had to be worth it. For her child—who had recently managed to short out the entire penthouse when Trixie proved to be the funniest person she'd ever seen—all of the sacrifice and pain was worth it.

When Trixie ran to her with joy in her eyes, when Thea laughed and toddled toward her on wobbling legs, when they stood together on the balcony overlooking the City of Angels, Chloe knew… they would be okay.

* * *

(epilogue)

She was on a stake-out, her car resting innocuous in a parking lot that overlooked the ocean (car thefts in a place where someone was too stodgy to mess up the appearance of the ugly parking lot with security cameras—and they still expected her to fix everything regardless. People were idiots) when _something_ washed over her.

It felt like the tingling feeling of electricity, the light that fought to explode from her body months ago. It was less adrenaline-induced panic electricity and more the feeling when a finger comes too close to a flickering lightbulb: anticipation and heat and a little fear, but mostly the warmth of light.

It was the light that flickered in Thea's eyes when she was too excited or nervous. It was the fire in her daughter's blood that waited and hopefully would never need to find its way free. The light of an angel.

She stepped out of the car, half in a daze and too confused to decide whether the feeling was real or just tiredness, and locked it behind her, shoving the keys into her pocket haphazardly. She followed the prickles of light, feeling them strengthen the further she walked closer to the shoreline. The closer she came to the ocean and heard the waves crashing against the sand, the more she felt the warmth surround her like a blanket.

Finally Chloe stood at the edge of the water, the ocean licking at her sensible shoes, the smell of salt overwhelming her senses. The tingling stopped abruptly, and she whirled around to face the presence she felt behind her.

A man stood a few hundred feet away, just far enough away that in the darkness she couldn't make out his features. Something bright that she couldn't quite make out glowed behind him, leaving his face in shadows. "Hello?" she called, feeling the prickles of anticipation begin again.

The man laughed, and the wings at his back disappeared, but the light around him didn't fade away. He stepped closer, hand extended to her. "Chloe," he said.

She ran into his arms and the light surrounded them as she kissed her Devil.

* * *

_And all of the steps that led me to you_

_And all of the hell I had to walk through_

_But I wouldn't trade a day for the chance to say_

_My love, I'm in love with you_

(Christina Perri, "The Words")

* * *

a/n - And that's that, the last chapter in this story. I can't express how much I truly appreciate all of y'all reading this (absolute) mess and commenting! If you'd be interested in extra fics in this weird universe of Deckerstar and the Girls, let me know! I have a few ideas for one-shots and may have time over winter break :) Thanks again!


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